MEGA PROJECT: SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CONFLICT THEORY

A lot of scholars have made many researches about project and project management. For example, Turner made a conceptual system of project management. However, when referring to mega-project, there are not sufficient studies to show people a full view of it. Recent decades have witnessed the prosperity of mega project around the world, and some areas even regard mega project as pillar industrious. However, there is no denial that the theoretical researches about mega project can't match the pace of construction of it, and many studies are limited to the project properties of mega project. This article enlarges the range of study and explores mega project with a new angle. It observes the mega project from the perspective of social conflict theory, and develops a conceptual model of mega project, which included three propositions: (1) mega project is the outcome of social conflict; (2) it functions as safety valve in society; (3) it has a close relationships with the level of political centralization and economic development. At the end, this article gives some suggestions about the construction of mega project.