China has entered a new stage of building a well-off society in an all-round way. The process of industrialization and urbanization has been accelerated, reform and opening up have been continuously promoted, and profound changes have taken place in the economic system, social structure, interest pattern and ideas. This unprecedented social change in the form of social transformation, on the one hand, has brought great vitality to China's development and progress, made China's economic and social development present a series of new distinctive features, and added new content to Socialism with Chinese characteristics; On the other hand, it will inevitably bring such social contradictions and problems, among which the deep-seated contradictions are gradually emerging and the problems affecting social harmony are increasing. For example, from a sociological point of view, many classical modernity problems and contemporary modernity problems, such as getting old before getting rich, the dual pressures of social wealth distribution and social risk distribution, are concentrated in front of us, which makes us have to deal with them at the same time; In developed countries, these two problems appear one after another, so there is more time to deal with them calmly. At the same time, China's economic development and social development have long had the problem of "one leg is long and one leg is short", the development of social undertakings is obviously lagging behind, the social system and policies are imperfect, and the level of social management is not high. Insufficient supply of public goods and weak capacity of public service system have increasingly become a reality that we have to face. In this case, only by focusing on developing social undertakings and solving people's livelihood issues, creating a good environment and conditions for economic development and people's production and life, and letting all people enjoy the fruits of reform and development, can we promote social fairness and justice, enhance social creativity, maintain social stability and order, effectively promote the construction of a harmonious socialist society, and make Socialism with Chinese characteristics develop more smoothly and healthily.
The need to solve outstanding problems
Historical experience shows that social harmony cannot be achieved naturally only by economic development and the increase of total social wealth. The lessons of some Latin American countries in the "lost decade" from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s proved this point. Since the reform and opening up, China's economic and social development has made great achievements, but there are still various unbalanced factors and uncoordinated phenomena. For example, employment pressure is high; The development between urban and rural areas, regions and industries is unbalanced, and the income gap is widening; The social security system is not perfect, and the social security of farmers is particularly fragile; In many places, the education level is not high, the medical and health system is backward, and problems such as difficulty in going to school, expensive medical treatment and difficulty in seeing a doctor still exist; The development of cultural undertakings lags behind; The situation of safe production is grim; Wait a minute. If we only pay attention to economic growth and ignore social development, it will not only aggravate the contradiction of unbalanced economic and social development, but also make economic development unsustainable in the end.
The development we pursue should be the coordinated development of economy and society, and the development in which all people share the fruits of development. Since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee has put forward a series of important strategic ideas and measures for establishing and implementing Scientific Outlook on Development and building a harmonious socialist society, which will surely guide us to create a new situation of scientific development and make new achievements in building a harmonious society. It should be emphasized that building Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a great undertaking that has never been experienced in human history. We should have a normal and peaceful mind, and it is impossible to engage in such a great cause without encountering contradictions and confusion. We should also have a sense of urgency to study and solve how to minimize social costs and control them within a minimum range.
The necessity of transforming government functions
Efforts to promote social development and solve people's livelihood problems are also a powerful driving force to promote the government's own reform and construction. To really promote social development and solve people's livelihood problems, we must build a service-oriented government and gradually straighten out the relationship among the government, enterprises and various social organizations. The Decision of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee clearly requires "building a service-oriented government and strengthening social management and public service functions", which is an important deployment to promote social development and solve people's livelihood problems. This is because governments at all levels have the power entrusted by the people, hold a large number of public resources, are in a special position as economic and social managers, and bear the main responsibility in promoting social development and solving people's livelihood problems. On the other hand, the practice of promoting social development and solving people's livelihood problems will promote the government to transform into a service-oriented government and strengthen its social management and public service functions.
In order to promote the positive interaction between promoting social development and solving people's livelihood problems and building a service-oriented government, it is decided to clearly put forward that we should focus on developing social undertakings and solving people's livelihood problems, optimize the allocation of public resources, tilt towards rural areas, grassroots and underdeveloped areas, and gradually form a basic public service system that benefits the whole people. At present, the development between urban and rural areas and between regions in China is unbalanced, and there is a big gap in the supply of public goods and services. It is necessary to expand the coverage of public goods and services, tilt more towards rural areas, grass-roots units and underdeveloped areas, and tilt towards various difficult groups in society to ensure the basic public needs of these groups. This is the unshirkable responsibility of governments at all levels, the inevitable requirement of promoting coordinated economic and social development, alleviating social contradictions and maintaining social equity, and the only way for governments at all levels to change their functions and build a service-oriented government. Influenced by traditional ideas for a long time, some government workers often look at governance issues from the perspective of exercising power, and there is a phenomenon of emphasizing power over responsibility and management over service. The practice of developing social undertakings and solving people's livelihood problems can strengthen the government's awareness of providing services and fulfilling responsibilities, and promote the government's transformation from "power-based" to "responsibility-based", from regulatory government to service-oriented government, and from emphasizing administrative control to scientific public governance.
Of course, to promote social development and solve people's livelihood problems, it is not enough to rely solely on the power of the government, but also to play the role of market organizations and social organizations. Market organizations with enterprise organizations as the main body should have a sense of social responsibility, take it from society and return it to society; Social organizations with non-profit organizations as the main body should play a unique role in making up for market failures and government failures, reducing social management costs, and cultivating social awareness.