Guanxi, Social Capital and School Choice in China: The Rise of Ritual Capital (Palgrave Studies on Chinese Education in a Global Perspective)

This book focuses on the use of __guanxi__ (Chinese personal connections) in everyday urban life: in particular, how and why people develop different types of social capital in their __guanxi__ networks and the role of __guanxi__ in school choice. __Guanxi__ takes on a special significance in Chinese societies, and is widely-discussed and intensely-studied phenomenon today. In recent years in China, the phenomenon of parents using __guanxi__ to acquire school places for their children has been frequently reported by the media, against the background of the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on corruption. From a sociological perspective, this book reveals how and why parents manage to do so. Ritual capital refers to an individual's ability to use ritual to benefit and gain resources from __guanxi.__ 3.3.1 Institutional Causes -- 3.3.2 Cultural Causes -- 3.3.3 Confucianism and "Instrumental Li"--3.3.4 Taoism: From the Cultural Dimensions -- 3.4 Social Capital in Different Closeness Levels of Guanxi -- 3.4.1 Closeness of Guanxi and Social Distance -- 3.5 Is Guanxi Social Capital? -- 3.5.1 Bonding, Bridging and Linking Social Capital -- 3.5.2 The Roles of Different Social Capital in Guanxi -- 3.6 Summary -- Bibliography -- Chapter 4: How Is Guanxi Used? -- 4.1 Ritualistic Customs -- 4.1.1 Gift Giving -- 4.1.2 Entertaining -- 4.1.3 Exchange of Favours (Renqing Exchange) -- 4.1.4 Giving Face 2.9.2 Accessing -- 2.9.3 Covert Observation and Confidentiality -- Note -- Bibliography -- Chapter 3: Guanxi and Social Capital -- 3.1 Guanxi and Related Concepts -- 3.1.1 Clarifying the Definition -- 3.1.2 Rationale for Using Guanxi -- 3.1.2.1 Renqing -- 3.1.2.2 Face -- 3.1.2.3 Ganqing -- 3.1.2.4 Yiqi -- 3.2 How Is Guanxi Used? -- 3.2.1 Gift Giving -- 3.2.2 Entertaining -- 3.2.3 Exchange of Favours (Renqing Exchange) -- 3.2.4 Giving Face -- 3.2.5 Embodying Ganqing -- 3.2.6 Applying Ritualised Patterns (Ketao) -- 3.2.7 Guanxi-Guanxi -- 3.2.8 Interaction Ritual -- 3.3 Why Is Guanxi Used? 5.4 The Relationship Between Cultural and Institutional Causes -- Bibliography -- Chapter 6: Ritual Capital -- 6.1 Ritual Is Vital for La Guanxi -- 6.1.1 Ritualistic Customs Are Full of Ritual -- 6.1.2 Money Giving Is Full of Ritual -- 6.1.3 The Use of Power Is Full of Ritual -- 6.1.4 Guanxi-Guanxi Practice Is Full of Ritual -- 6.2 Ritual Capital: Investing Ritual for Social Capital -- 6.3 The Characteristics of Ritual Capital -- 6.4 Ritual Capital as an Analytical Tool -- Bibliography -- Chapter 7: Ritual Capital Follows a Weak-Strong-Weak Pattern 4.1.5 Applying Ritualised Patterns (Ketao) -- 4.2 Money Giving -- 4.3 The Use of Power -- 4.4 Guanxi-Guanxi Links -- 4.5 Summary -- Note -- Bibliography -- Chapter 5: Why Is Guanxi Used? -- 5.1 Rationale for Practising Guanxi -- 5.1.1 Ganqing and Virtues -- 5.1.2 Renqing and Face -- 5.1.3 Material Gain -- 5.2 Institutional Causes of La Guanxi -- 5.2.1 Vague and Flexible Rules and Laws -- 5.2.2 The Rule of Man -- 5.2.3 Corruption -- 5.3 Cultural Causes of La Guanxi -- 5.3.1 Particularism -- 5.3.2 Collectivism -- 5.3.3 Diffuse Culture Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-9 Using Guanxi to Gain School Places....Pages 11-35 Guanxi and Social Capital....Pages 37-73 How Is Guanxi Used?....Pages 75-92 Why Is Guanxi Used?....Pages 93-119 Ritual Capital....Pages 121-134 Ritual Capital Follows a Weak-Strong-Weak Pattern....Pages 135-152 Trust in Ritual Capital....Pages 153-165 Conclusion....Pages 167-182 Back Matter....Pages 183-194 7.1 Instrumental Rituals Follow the Weak-Strong- Weak Pattern