Comparing Social Quality and Social Harmony from a Governance Perspective

Abstract

This article compares the concept of social quality with the concept of social harmony from a governance perspective. It confines the comparative analysis on the concept of social quality to the one initiated by scholars associated with the European Foundation of Social Quality and the concept of social harmony on the official discourse by the present political leaders on mainland China. The article has two major parts; the first part looks at the conceptualization and underlying meanings of both concepts against their different contextual, institutional backgrounds and societal developmental stages. The second part explores how Europe and China can learn from each other on the basis of four common themes developmental, theoretical coherence, social responsibility, and measurement.