Amid the diversification of China’s social assistance system, the transformation of intervention models in social work has become an critical concern in social governance. This article undertakes a comparative analysis of the “embedded model” and the “incorporative model,” delineating their differences in management mechanisms, organizational dependence, resource integration, and service responsiveness. Furthermore, it identifies the practical dilemmas and institutional tensions that manifest during this transitional phase. From the perspectives of institutional, governance, and professional logics, the study analyzes the underlying forces driving the shift from embedded to incorporative models. It posits that this process reflects the state’s imperative to enhance policy implementation, integrate diverse resources, and reshape state–society relations. The paper argues that the establishment of a triadic mechanism of institutional support, governance coordination, and professional empowerment can help address the practical challenges and provide a new analytical framework for understanding the evolution of China’s social assistance system from a management-centric to a collaborative-oriented model.

Employing Mannheim’s sociology of knowledge as the theoretical framework, this study adopts qualitative research methods to explore the generative mechanisms of practical knowledge within the field of social work in China. The findings reveal that the prevailing structure, characterized by a “strong institution–weak profession” dynamic, imposes significant restrictions on professional autonomy through control over resources and administrative evaluations. In response to such constraints, social workers employ strategies such as “professional discourse translation” and “administrative task professionalization”. Moreover, within the specific local cultural context, social workers mediate the tensions between “relational ethics” and “professional rationality” by leveraging key intermediaries, fulfilling emotional needs, and implementing nuanced care practices to reconstruct professional relationships. At the level of professional education, the disconnection between theory and practice is bridged through reflective practice, forming a spiral progression of “practice–reflection–re-practice”. The study elucidates the pathways through which strategic, relational, and situated knowledge is generated, emphasizing their characteristics of contextual interactivity, individual tastiness, and dynamic development.

The strengths perspective and social support are two fundamental theories in social work practice, yet they are often applied in parallel or superficially combined rather than being organically integrated. Recent studies on negative ties have indicated that the buffering effect of social support on psychological health is conditional, depending on the source of support (who provided it), the content of support (what is provided), and how the ego utilizes this support to improve psychological health. This process is influenced by tie constraints, the characteristics of the support provider (alter), and the attributes of the client (ego)—meaning that not all social support necessarily leads to positive psychological health outcomes; rather, the effectiveness hinges on who provides the help, what kind of help is offered, the relationship between client and alter, and the personal characteristics of the ego. Similarly, the strengths perspective emphasizes ego strengths and the trust-based relationship between the social worker and the client (ego), which also relies on individual and structural attributes. Based on an understanding of the conditional nature of social support and its inherent consistency with the theoretical premises of the strengths perspective, this study integrates the theory of conditional social support with the strengths perspective to construct a new “Dual Strengths” approach for social work practice. This approach simultaneously focuses social work practice on both the individual (client/alter) and structural (tie) levels, utilizing the strengths perspective to address shortcomings in personal or tie attributes, thereby facilitating the transformation of social support into structural strengths. This theoretical proposition awaits further practical validation.

The historical materials pertaining to social work are crucial to the comprehensive examination of the discipline’s development. Social work has been introduced in China for over a century, during which a substantial corpus of historical documents has been amassed, providing a valuable resource for scholarly inquiry. At present, the social work academic community is undertaking efforts to organize and catalog these historical materials from the modern era, culminating in an initial framework of research outcomes. With the development of various electronic databases that catalog recent documents, the exploration and systematic analysis of social work historical materials have become both feasible and urgent. The enhancement of social work historical records is poised to significantly advance social work scholarship in China by facilitating a more precise articulation of historical facts regarding the trajectory of social work development, fostering critical analyses of debates concerning social work development, and serving as a reference for contemporary challenges in the field.

The adaptation challenges faced by newly hospitalized patients with mental disorders manifest primarily in three domains: “the psychological predicament within closed ward”, “negative perception of hospitalization” and “social withdrawal”. Adopting the mixed method through qualitative interviews and quantitative scale analyses conducted with group participants, this study identifies five core areas of needs, encompassing emotional management, disease awareness, self-awareness, social interaction, and hospital adaptation. Grounded in cognitive-behavioral theory, a series of six structured group interventions have been developed to address these identified issues and needs among newly hospitalized patients with mental disorders. The evaluation shows that these group interventions have significantly improved the adaptive processes of the newly hospitalized patients with mental disorders, thereby offering valuable insights and practical guidance for facilitating improved adaptation experiences. However, group intervention services reveal inherent limitations in four areas: “the coverage of service user”, “the professional competence of the social workers”, “the theoretical framework adopted”, and “the integration of follow-up service”. These limitations warrant further professional reflection and enhancement for effective implementation.

Volunteer service is a soft power in social governance, and examining its development trajectory and governance disparities provides valuable insights into the evolving landscape of grassroots social governance in the new era. Based on the prolonged observations of volunteer service in R County of southern Jiangsu, it has been found that the variations in initial resource endowments have led to differentiated models in volunteer service. The two models are characterized by two distinct approaches: “leveraging the bureaucracy system” and “leveraging the professional strength”. These approaches utilize two different networks: “the vertical network of the bureaucracy” and “the horizontal network of the relationship”. With the shift of the focus of national governance and the normative development of social forces, the internal governance of the two different types of grassroots volunteer service began to converge. Rather than existing at opposing ends of the state-society spectrum, they gradually moved toward an intermediate state of mutual resource leverage and convergence in governance.

Effective rural governance necessitates the active participation of various stakeholders. While left-behind women possess the potential for such participation, their capabilities remain insufficient. This paper proposes the concepts of “governance-empowerment” and “empowerment-governance” to illustrate the reciprocal relationship between “governance” and “empowerment” in rural governance, wherein both serve as objectives and methods of realization. Integrating the scenario-based, interpersonal, and process-oriented aspects of governance and empowerment, we propose an analytical framework for “governance-empowerment” and “empowerment-governance”. Based on the case study of Village L in Fujian Province, this paper illustrates the intervention pathways of social work: in terms of scenarios, governance should enter the daily life scenarios and achieve empowerment through participation for left-behind women; in terms of interpersonal relationships, governance may achieve group empowerment through organization. Additionally, in terms of process, governance should be carried out step by step to achieve hierarchical governance and gradual capacity enhancement. “Governance-empowerment” and “empowerment-governance” provide a theoretical framework and practical guidance for rural social work.

Affective governance is a response to innovative grassroots governance strategies, with grassroots cadres serving as crucial agents in enhancing the quality and efficiency of grassroots governance. Drawing on ethnographic research on the old tree retention incident in Y village, this study integrates its analysis into a logical framework that examines the behaviors of grassroots cadres through the lens of affective governance, situating it within a realistic context. At the level of evidence-based practice, the concept of affective governance is elucidated through the admission, promotion, and application of emotional discourses, rituals, and support—elements that collectively shape a rationalized schema of affective governance. Extending into the realms of emotional habitus, grassroots cadres navigate the tension between “facts” and “feelings”, placing greater emphasis on personal connections, relationships, and appropriateness. By skillfully balancing between personal connections, relationships and appropriateness, affective governance can effectively promote the regeneration of positive emotions and build a harmonious grassroots society.

The Productivity Factor Theory emphasizes that qualitative changes in the labor force, means of production, and objectives of labor are pivotal to augmenting productivity. Based on the theoretical logic of empowering rural revitalization through these three neo-quality productivity elements, this paper systematically analyzes the key constraints encountered in current practices. These constraints primarily manifest as: a deficiency in labor quantity coupled with structural imbalances, a stagnation in technological advancements alongside outdated production materials, and the challenges of digital exclusion and digital detachment faced by labor objects. Building upon this analysis, the study proposes a three-dimensional empowerment pathway: (1) establishing a comprehensive “attracting-cultivating-retaining-utilizing” labor development continuum to enhance human capital; (2) advancing the development of digitalized production systems to modernize production tools; (3) implementing a value-rational regulatory ethical framework for resource development to optimize the utilization of labor objects. This tripartite approach aims to systematically address existing constraints while promoting sustainable rural development through coordinated advancement of productivity elements.

As an extension of traditional trade in the era of digital economy, digital trade has a deepening impact on China’s economic development and income distribution pattern. Based on the panel data of 250 prefecture-level cities from 2014 to 2022, this paper discusses whether the development of local digital trade can advance the goal of common prosperity. The study reveals that the development of digital trade significantly enhances the level of common prosperity, particularly in densely populated regions. Analyzing the mechanisms of influence, the research indicates that digital trade fosters common prosperity by facilitating the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure, promoting the development of rural industry and bolstering the employment opportunities in the tertiary industry. Further analysis uncovers a spillover effect whereby the benefits of digital trade extend to surrounding areas, reflecting a “those having got prosperous first to help others to catch up” dynamic at the prefecture level. Therefore, this paper advocates for the coordinated development of regional digital trade, the enhancement of the level of openness to the outside, the improvement of the digital infrastructure, and the inclusion of a broader array of economic entities in the digital trade ecosystem. Such initiatives are posited to facilitate a virtuous cycle of regional economic development and a steady progression toward common prosperity, driven by the advancements in digital trade.