自20世紀後半世紀迄今，組織社會學無論是在組織邊界、策略或控制方面的概念持續不斷變遷，同時，其觀察視角從組織「整體」逐漸朝向組織「過程」轉變，組織從一個與環境互為獨立的「封閉體系」，轉變成一個與環境相互依存的「開放體系」。從此一理論視角出發，本文主張中國大陸城市基層治理體制由計畫經濟時期的「單位制」和「街居制」朝向晚近的「社區制」轉型，是一種從相對「封閉體系」朝向相對「開放體系」的體制變革。然而，由於後社會主義國家轉型過程深受前期「歷史遺緒」影響，並且國家基於維持控制基層社會的考量，導致此一制度變革朝向「路徑依賴」方向演變。 基於此，本文透過與「市場轉型論」和「國家─社會」關係進行理論對話，進一步提出組織社會學的「場域建構」觀點，從「制度─組織─行為者」的互動層次，描繪中國大陸城市社區自治組織所鑲嵌的制度環境，並探究城市基層管理體制變革對社區權力結構造成何種衝擊？社區自治組織如何調整結構功能適應制度環境巨變？從而呈現中國大陸城市基層治理體制的變遷圖像。

From the second half of the twentieth century, the study of or­ganizational sociology has changed in the conceptions of organization boundaries, strategies, and controls. The study on organization has shifted from entity-based to process-based. Organization, which used to be treated like a closed system independent from the environment, is now considered an open system inter-dependent on the environment. Based on this theoretical framework, this article argues that the urban governance system of China has gradually changed from “danwei regime” and “neighborhood committee”, a closed system, to the open “community system”. However, historical legacies have circumscribed the transition process of post-socialism countries and the government’s control remains strong in grass-root levels, resulting in urban management changes very path-dependent. With this in mind, the author connects “market transition theory” and “state-society model” and applies the concepts of “field construction” of organizational sociology to examine the institution-organization-agent interaction and describe the institutional environment in which the community organizations embedded. The paper focuses on the impacts that the institutional changes bring on community structures, and community organizations’ adjustment of structures to cope with institutional changes to illustrate the transition of the urban governance system of China.