基层迎检、开发纷争、征收税费、产业调整、征地“种房”、维权争利……“喧嚣”一词，释尽乡镇日常政治种种人事与结构交织碰撞的众声嘈杂。本书以后现代叙事策略，围绕基层政权、村级组织和农民在复杂的乡村权力场域中博弈共生的过程和状况，深度阐释了21世纪初中国中部地区某乡镇“乡域政治”的运作实践与支配逻辑。
本书出版十年来，获得学术界内外的广泛好评，被权威专家和普通读者誉为数十年来少见的以“抵近现场”“深度描写”的方式、以“比小说还精彩”的叙述来“复杂化理解”中国基层社会的作品。重读此书，不难发现，虽然它研究的是十多年前的乡镇，但是，对于“故事”背后种种复杂因素的颇有见地的理论探讨，让它在今天仍然极具启示。

本书从社会资本的非制度性机制视角研究了“干部”阶层的职业地位获得过程。作者利用经验调查数据和个案访谈资料，具体描述和考察了当前干部阶层社会网络资源的分布、结构特征及其影响因素，分析了职位升迁中干部对社会资本的使用、社会资本在其中所发挥的作用及影响因素和作用机制，试图对“干部拥有什么样的社会网络资源?”、“职位升迁中干部使用社会网络资源的情况如何?”、“社会资本在干部职位升迁中产生了何种程度的影响?”等问题做出回答。本书为干部的职业地位获得分析开拓了新的思路。
中文目录

These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age of winners and losers, where the odds are stacked in favour of the already fortunate. Stalled social mobility and entrenched inequality give the lie to the promise that "you can make it if you try". And the consequence is a brew of anger and frustration that has fuelled populist protest, with the triumph of Brexit and election of Donald Trump.
Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the polarized politics of our time, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalisation and rising inequality. Sandel highlights the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind. He offers an alternative way of thinking about success - more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility, and more hospitable to a politics of the common good.