Social harmony depends on the coordination of social structure. Whether the social structure is reasonable is an important factor that affects or even determines whether the society in this country or region is harmonious, and it is also an important indicator to measure whether the society is harmonious. Social structure generally includes population structure, family structure, employment structure, urban-rural structure, regional structure, social stratum structure and so on, of which the most important is social stratum structure. Generally speaking, the social stratum structure should be adapted to the economic development structure, and what kind of economic structure there is. Modern society should have both modern economic structure and modern social stratum structure. It is an accepted fact that the class structure of modern society is generally an "olive-shaped" social structure with a big middle and two small ends. The dominant extremely rich class and the poor and weak population at the bottom of society are relatively few, while the middle class accounts for the majority or even more. Such a society is relatively stable and healthy, which is a harmonious society.
What is the reason? Because the coordination of social structure depends on the coordination among all social strata, and the coordination among all social strata depends on the prosperity of all social strata. Without all the people to do their best and get their place, without the reasonable adjustment and benign interaction of the interests of all social strata, without the common prosperity of all social grassroots, there will be no harmonious society. The "olive-shaped" social structure is a social structure in which all social strata basically reach the same prosperity.
In socialist society, we have established a new social system, which provides a harmonious social security for the realization of fairness and justice. But in fact, China's modernization process started under the demonstration effect of the western modernization model. In the process of western modernization, we often see that we only pay attention to efficiency and ignore equality. Conflicts between social classes and local disharmony can also be seen here. If in contemporary China, based on the possession and distribution of social power and social resources, there is still great inequality in social status and wealth, then the disharmony among all social strata will exist forever. The disharmony among all social strata is the social basis leading to various social contradictions and conflicts, and it is also the biggest problem in building a harmonious society.
If there is a conflict, we must control it. In the society of class confrontation, the cooperation, mutual benefit and harmony based on fairness and justice that people pursue has never really been realized. In order to achieve this harmony, we must carry out social revolution, overthrow the old social system through confrontation and establish a new social system. Under the socialist system, the conflicts and contradictions among all social strata are only local disharmony, not the disharmony of the whole society. To solve local disharmony, we can't take the means and methods that one side suppresses the class confrontation of the other side by violence. We should try our best to cooperate and never choose confrontation. Western social conflict theory has put forward the concept of "safety valve", which advocates controlling conflicts within a certain limit and maintaining social stability. This is a question worthy of our serious consideration. If the development of differences does not exceed the "safety valve", then there will be no conflict and endanger social stability. Once beyond the "safety valve", differences will turn into conflicts and threaten social harmony. The choice of controlling the conflict within the "safety valve" is based on the possession and distribution of social power and social resources, gradually eliminating the huge inequality of social status and wealth and realizing the common prosperity of all walks of life. Because this choice involves the vital interests of every member of society, it is related to the major issue of whether the people's harmonious ideal can be realized. If we are not committed to solving this inequality, realizing the common prosperity of all social strata, and eliminating the social foundation that causes social contradictions and social conflicts, building a harmonious socialist society will be empty talk.
Therefore, in a certain sense, at the present stage of our country, the integration of social class relations is mainly to integrate the interests of all classes in our society and correctly handle contradictions among the people, that is, to correctly adjust and properly handle the interests of all classes in society and realize people's prosperity.
Second, the essential characteristics of socialism determine that * * * and affluence are the basic requirements for building a harmonious socialist society.
In fact, eliminating exploitation, polarization and becoming rich are the essential characteristics of socialism. Because * * * and affluence are closely linked with social harmony, in this sense, it is the inevitable result, the objective requirement and the proper meaning of this essential feature of socialism.
What is socialism? From the perspective of axiology, socialism should take the all-round development of society as its own value standard, which is relative to capitalism with individual possession of capital as its essential feature. It is the transcendence of capitalism, the exploration of ideal society and the ultimate concern for human civilization in the form of theory, movement and system in the criticism of the disparity and disharmony between the rich and the poor brought by capitalism and the sublation of capitalism. The socialist spirit is the pursuit of harmony. [1] and the premise of pursuing harmony that best embodies the socialist spirit is * * * wealth.
Rousseau once said: "According to Locke's wise maxim, where there is no private ownership, there will be no injustice. Inequality in modern society is inevitable. " In Locke's view, the existence of private ownership is the root of human injustice. But he added: "We can assert that in the natural state, inequality hardly exists. Due to the development of human ability and the progress of human wisdom, inequality has gained strength and grown up; Due to the establishment of private ownership and law, inequality is finally deeply rooted and legalized. In addition, we can also assert that only the spiritual inequality recognized by positive law conflicts with natural law whenever it is not commensurate with physical inequality. This imbalance completely determines how we should look at the inequality that exists in all civilized countries. Because a child directs the elderly, a fool guides the wise, a few people have a lot of leftovers, and a large number of hungry people lack necessities. This is obviously against the laws of nature, no matter what definition people give to inequality. " [2] Rousseau mainly criticizes the disadvantages of private ownership here, but he also points out that absolute equality does not exist at any time, under any circumstances, even in the natural state.
Although it is different from Rousseau's starting point and purpose as a bourgeois thinker, there is no doubt that Marx and Engels put justice in a certain historical long river and investigated it on the basis of the development level of productive forces. Engels pointed out: "True freedom and equality can only be achieved under the capitalist system; And such a system is required by justice. " [3] "The concept of equality, whether in the form of the bourgeoisie or the proletariat, is itself a product of history." [4] In other words, equality is closely related to certain economic relations and the social structure determined by them.
Although Marx and Engels put justice in a certain historical long river and investigated it on the basis of the development level of productive forces, one thing deserves special attention: they have never shaken the fundamental principle of socialism, that is, they have never given up the premise that the socialist spirit pursues harmony. They once said that "the decisive difference between the socialist system and the capitalist system is, of course, the organization of production on the basis of public ownership of all means of production (first implemented by a single country)." [5] But at the same time, they also stressed that the establishment of socialist public ownership is to realize people's prosperity, that is to say, the establishment of socialist public ownership is the institutional basis of prosperity, just as highly developed productive forces are the material premise of prosperity. Marx pointed out in the Critical Outline of Political Economy that in the new social system, production will aim at the prosperity of all the people. This shows that Marx and Engels always regard the elimination of private ownership, class and exploitation as the fundamental conditions for a harmonious society in the future. In other words, only when socialism replaces capitalism can we talk about building a harmonious society.
Why can we talk about building a harmonious society only when socialism replaces capitalism is determined by the inherent characteristics of the socialist spirit. As mentioned earlier, capitalism takes the individual's possession of capital as its value standard, and the pursuit of individual capital maximization will inevitably lead to great differences in people's wealth and social fission. Socialism takes the all-round development of society as its value standard, and its spirit is the pursuit of harmony, and the symbol that best embodies the socialist spirit of pursuing harmony is public ownership. Under the condition of public ownership of the means of production, working people can generally maintain equal economic status, equal social status and equal personality. In Lenin's words, "all citizens are in the same position in the relationship with the means of production of the whole society, that is to say, all citizens can also use public means of production, public land and public factories to work." [6] This excludes the possibility that individuals can occupy the surplus labor products of others for free by virtue of the ownership of the means of production, thus laying the foundation for eliminating oppression, exploitation and polarization, realizing bringing wealth with wealth, and then forming a harmonious relationship between people. Therefore, eliminating private ownership and establishing public ownership are the basic prerequisites for achieving prosperity and building a harmonious society.
However, in the realistic socialist society, harmonious relations will not appear naturally. Compared with the previous class society, the realistic socialist society is a much fairer society, but it is born out of the capitalist society and is only the primary stage of the capitalist society. China is faced with the long-term and arduous task of liberating and developing productive forces. To eliminate the unfair phenomena left over from the old society and caused by the imperfection of its own system and mechanism, it must make extremely hard efforts. This is especially true for countries that have entered socialism on the basis of relatively backward economy and culture. In the process of social development, factors such as ability will inevitably lead to different levels of wealth. The problem is that, due to the difference in the wealth created by factors such as ability, it cannot be denied that the essential characteristics and value goal of socialism are to achieve the same prosperity. The problem lies in the different degrees and limits of this prosperity, and how the policies and systems we have formulated limit this difference or polarization.
In a word, socialist society has eliminated many unfair phenomena, especially class exploitation and class oppression, which is the biggest unfair phenomenon, but there are still some unfair phenomena to be overcome and eliminated. In other words, the establishment of the socialist system only provides the necessary conditions for building a harmonious society. To make it a reality, we need to work hard, give full play to our subjective initiative, constantly solve contradictions and eliminate disharmonious factors. However, all this does not hinder the essence and value principle of socialism embodied in the social norms and social value system formed by the party and the government through formulating a series of laws and policies in order to achieve the goal of socialist prosperity.
Three, the essential attribute and value goal of Socialism with Chinese characteristics is to achieve * * * prosperity, maintain social equity and achieve social harmony.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics's core is socialism, and its characteristic is China. On socialism without China characteristics, the realistic socialist system is bound to be rigid; Without socialism with China characteristics, China characteristics will be far away from the essential attributes and value goals of socialism, or become socialism in name and capitalism in essence. China * * Production Party always regards eliminating polarization, realizing prosperity and maintaining social justice as the essential attribute, fundamental requirement and value goal of Socialism with Chinese characteristics. As an exploratory contribution to Socialism with Chinese characteristics's theory, Mao Zedong has always regarded prosperity as the essential issue of socialism. In the article "On Correctly Handling Contradictions among the People" published by 1957, he analyzed the realistic relationship among various classes, strata and social groups in socialist society, revealed various social contradictions and put forward the idea of mobilizing the enthusiasm of all parties. The contradictions among the people revealed by Mao Zedong are a wide and complicated social problem, but in the final analysis, it is a problem of interest distribution and adjustment, which is essentially about * * * and wealth and fairness.
Deng Xiaoping's theory of socialist essence can best reflect Socialism with Chinese characteristics's essential attributes, fundamental requirements and value goals. As the pioneer of Socialism with Chinese characteristics Theory, Deng Xiaoping said that we are fighting for socialism, not only because socialism has the conditions to develop social productive forces faster than capitalism, but also because only socialism can eliminate all kinds of greed, corruption and injustice that capitalism and other exploitation systems will inevitably produce. What is the essence of socialism? Deng Xiaoping's classic expression is: "The essence of socialism is to liberate and develop productive forces, eliminate exploitation and polarization, and finally achieve common prosperity." [7] Should we understand Deng Xiaoping's theory of socialist essence in this way: liberating and developing productive forces is the material premise, eliminating exploitation and polarization is the only way, and achieving common prosperity is the ultimate goal. Only by fully realizing these three tasks can we fundamentally solve the problem of social equity.
The problem is that some scholars today regard the liberation and development of productive forces as the core of Deng Xiaoping's theory of socialist essence. Deng Xiaoping did say a lot about "poverty is not socialism, and socialism should eliminate poverty" [8] "There are many tasks of socialism, but the fundamental one is to develop productive forces." [9] But we should not forget that Deng Xiaoping has always associated the liberation and development of productive forces with * * * and affluence, and what he talks about most is * * * and affluence. "The greatest benefit of socialism is wealth, which is something that embodies the essence of socialism." [10] "Taking the socialist road means gradually achieving prosperity." [1 1] "Only the socialist system can fundamentally solve the problem of poverty alleviation." [12] Even in his later years, he still cared about * * * and prosperity, and was always afraid that China would stir up trouble on this issue. Generally speaking, Deng Xiaoping's thought of getting rich is as follows: First, if our policies lead to polarization or long-term polarization, it is not socialism and we will fail. If a new bourgeoisie emerges, we will really go astray; Second, * * * being rich is legal, and the premise of being rich is to get rich legally through hard work, not illegally, not to abuse power for personal gain; Third, through economic system reform and distribution policy reform and adjustment, protect legitimate income, ban illegal income, adjust excessive income, and ensure the basic livelihood of low-income people; Fourth, if we do not persist in prosperity, the productive forces will neither be liberated nor developed; Fifth, * * * prosperity is the prosperity of the whole people, not the prosperity of local areas. "The purpose of socialism is to make all the people rich, not polarized." [13] It can be said that in Socialism with Chinese characteristics's theory, Deng Xiaoping's theory of socialist essence is the biggest bright spot, which is fundamental, and * * * theory is the core of Deng Xiaoping's theory of socialist essence. It reshapes the value goal of socialism, clearly distinguishes socialism from other purposes of exploiting society, and clarifies who will enjoy the fruits after developing productive forces.
To sum up, in Deng Xiaoping's theory of the essence of socialism, "liberating and developing productive forces" is the means and way to "eliminate exploitation and polarization", and "eliminating exploitation and polarization" is only the means and way to "be rich". Only by combining the liberation and development of productive forces with the elimination of exploitation and polarization can we achieve the ultimate goal of prosperity and prosperity. We can compare the general thinking characteristics of Deng Xiaoping's theory of socialist essence in this way: liberating and developing productive forces is the solid foundation of a harmonious socialist society; * * * Richness is the branch of a harmonious socialist society; Eliminating exploitation and polarization is a solid trunk leading to roots and branches. [14] In this sense, liberating and developing productive forces, eliminating exploitation and eliminating polarization are all means to achieve common prosperity.
We can see that the essential feature of Socialism with Chinese characteristics, which was designed by Deng Xiaoping and practiced by hundreds of millions of people in China, is prosperity. Theory of Three Represents, as an important symbol of the maturity of Socialism with Chinese characteristics's theoretical system, Scientific Outlook on Development has continuously deepened the development of Socialism with Chinese characteristics's theoretical system, taking the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of people in China and the "people-oriented" ruling concept as the representative, and put the issue of "equality and prosperity" of the China people in a very important position. Turn it from Socialism with Chinese characteristics's value pursuit into the proper goal, basic principle and main task of Socialism with Chinese characteristics's development. Especially since the beginning of the new century, under the fundamental guidance of Scientific Outlook on Development, our Party has established a coordination mechanism for social interest relations in accordance with the general requirements of fairness and justice, democracy and the rule of law, honesty and friendship, vitality, stability and order, and harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and used political, legal, economic and administrative means to properly handle the contradictions among the people under the new situation and new conditions, resolve social contradictions, and enable people of all walks of life to live in harmony in a harmonious society. Scientific Outlook on Development not only revealed the value principle and essential attribute of Socialism with Chinese characteristics theory, but also opened up a new realm of the development of Socialism with Chinese characteristics theory. This is bound to be of great significance for realizing the common prosperity of all China people and building a harmonious socialist society on this basis.