Social Connections in China: Institutions, Culture, and the Changing Nature of Guanxi (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences, Series Number 21)

Guanxi, loosely translated as "social connections," or "social networks," is among the most important, talked about, and studied phenomena in China today. Guanxi lies at the heart of China's social order, its economic structure, and its changing institutional landscape. It is considered important in most every realm of life, from politics to business, and from officialdom to street life. This volume offers the latest scholarly thinking on the subject by top China sociologists whose work on guanxi has been influential and by new scholars offering cutting-edge insights on the topic. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Series-title 5 Title 7 Copyright 8 CONTENTS 9 CONTRIBUTORS 11 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES 15 FIGURES 15 TABLES 15 PROLOGUE 17 INTRODUCTION 21 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF GUANXI 23 DISENTANGLING GUANXI 25 SCHOLARSHIP ON GUANXI 29 Is Guanxi a Chinese phenomenon? 30 The institutional turn in analyses of Guanxi 33 Contributions to current scholarship 37 1 PRACTICES OF GUANXI PRODUCTION AND PRACTICES OF GANQING AVOIDANCE 41 PRACTICES OF GUANXI PRODUCTION 42 THEORIES OF COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICE 43 WHAT IS GUANXI? 45 What is not Guanxi, or rather, practices of Ganqing avoidance 48 CONCLUSIONS 53 METHODOLOGICAL AND CONCEPTUAL CONSIDERATIONS 55 2 INFORMATION ASYMMETRIES AND THE PROBLEM OF PERCEPTION: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF STRUCTURAL POSITION IN ASSESSING THE... 57 THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN THE ANALYSIS OF GUANXI 59 Inappropriate data 60 Difficulties in operationalizing theory 63 Predicting the future 64 STRUCTURAL POSITION AND PERCEPTIONS OF GUANXI 65 TWO EMPIRICAL EXAMPLES 67 The importance of guanxi in hiring practices: The view from the other side 67 Conflicting reports on the importance of guanxi in a rationalizing economy 72 CONCLUSION 75 3 BEYOND DYADIC SOCIAL EXCHANGE: GUANXI AND THIRD-PARTY EFFECTS 77 INSTRUMENTALIZATION OF GUANXI: MECHANISMS AT WORK 79 Cultural and relational factors 80 The milieu of social exchange under Mao 82 Changes in the reform era 84 UNEVEN STRUCTURAL CONSTRAINTS: A FURTHER ILLUSTRATION 86 Favor-seeking and state agents’ vested interests 87 Crowded political market 90 Collusion and whistle-blowing 91 SUMMARY 94 NEW SUBSTANTIVE STUDIES OF GUANXI 95 4 GUANXI IN BUSINESS GROUPS: SOCIAL TIES AND THE FORMATION OF ECONOMIC RELATIONS 97 INTRODUCTION 97 THEORETICAL ISSUES 99 Manufacturing social indebtedness 99 Social relations and economic exchange 100 Social relations and economic dependence 102 GUANXI IN THE FORMATION OF EXCHANGE TIES IN CHINA 103 EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF LENDING AND TRADE IN BUSINESS GROUPS 106 Data 106 Methods of analysis 107 Results 108 CONCLUSIONS 112 APPENDIX 113 Logistic regression models 113 Variables 115 5 BUSINESS-STATE CLIENTELISM IN CHINA: DECLINE OR EVOLUTION? 117 THEORETICAL ISSUES 118 ENTREPRENEURIAL PERCEPTIONS 124 PATTERNS OF COMPETITION AND CLIENTELISM 128 Enduring and temporal utilities of guanxi practice 129 Business scale and differential networks 131 From personal to localistic networks 133 CONCLUSION 135 6 INSTITUTIONAL HOLES AND JOB MOBILITY PROCESSES: GUANXI MECHANISMS IN CHINA’S EMERGENT LABOR MARKETS 137 FROM GUANXI TO STRONG TIES 138 PERSISTENCE OF GUANXI EFFECTS: OBSERVATION FROM 100 JOB CHANGERS 139 Subsidiary establishments 142 International joint ventures 143 Foreign firms 143 Domestic private businesses 144 Economic entities with ambiguous or mixed-property forms 144 Migrant peasant labor in the cities 145 VIEWS OF CHINA’S TRANSITION TO LABOR MARKETS 146 INSTITUTIONAL HOLES AND GUANXI IN EMERGENT LABOR MARKETS 148 Information flow 148 Trust-Bridging 150 Obligation binding 152 GUANXI CAPITAL IN THE ECONOMY OF INSTITUTIONAL HOLES 153 7 YOUTH JOB SEARCHES IN URBAN CHINA: THE USE OF SOCIAL CONNECTIONS IN A CHANGING LABOR MARKET 157 GUANXI AND FINDING A JOB 157 The rise (and fall?) of guanxi 158 Network theory and tie strength 160 Guanxi and social ties 162 Social connections and youth 163 Finding a job in urban China: The 1990s 164 Labor market reform and employer demands 165 Workplace and regional mobility 168 Job specificity and skill marketability 171 Guanxi or ties? 176 CONCLUSION 180 8 FACE, NORMS, AND INSTRUMENTALITY 183 THEORETICAL ISSUES 184 VILLAGE LEVEL CHANGES 187 Changes in the local economy 187 Changes in village guanxi networks 188 Shifts in village social exchange 189 House construction and shifting forms of aid 190 Agricultural mutual aid 193 Cash, geography, and instrumentality 194 CONCLUSION 197 9 GUANXI AND THE PRC LEGAL SYSTEM: FROM CONTRADICTION TO COMPLEMENTARITY 199 INTRODUCTION 199 GUANXI AND CHINESE LEGAL CULTURE 200 THE ROLE OF GUANXI IN LEGAL ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR 203 Attitudes about guanxi in domestic legal relations 203 Behavior: Guanxi and foreign-related dispute resolution 205 Guanxi and judicial behavior 208 IMPLICATIONS OF COMPLEMENTARITY OF GUANXI AND LAW: APPLICATION AND THE CASE OF CONTRACT LAW 211 CONCLUSION 214 10 “IDLE TALK”: NEIGHBORHOOD GOSSIP AS A MEDIUM OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION IN REFORM ERA SHANGHAI 217 INTRODUCTION: GOSSIP AND GUANXI 217 A MAOIST NEIGHBORHOOD IN DENGIST SHANGHAI 221 STORIES FROM OUR NEIGHBORHOOD 225 THE USES OF NEIGHBORHOOD GOSSIP 227 Gossip as moral discourse 227 Gossip as information medium 228 Instrumental uses of gossip networks 230 The pragmatics of gossip 231 Gender and gossip 232 THE CHANGING ECOLOGY OF SHANGHAI’S NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORKS 233 CONCLUSION: PRODUCTIVE DISORDER 236 CONCLUSIONS 239 11 NETWORKING GUANXI 241 THE SOCIAL NETWORK APPROACH 241 From metaphor to toolkit 241 ANALYZING GUANXI 242 THE SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYTIC APPROACH 244 From method and metaphor to paradigm and substance 244 A network is not always – perhaps not often – a group 245 WHOLE NETWORKS 248 Patterns of connectivity and cleavage 248 Structurally equivalent role relationships 248 Indirect ties between persons and organizations 249 Personal networks 252 STUDYING PERSONAL NETWORKS 254 Differentiated ties 255 A multi-level approach 258 A network society 259 REFERENCES 263 INDEX 293 Guanxi, translated as'social connections,'or'social networks,'is among the most important studied phenomena in China today. Guanxi lies at the heart of China's social order, its economic structure, and its changing institutional landscape. It is considered important in every realm of life, from politics to business, and officialdom to street life. This volume offers scholarly thinking on the subject by top China sociologists whose work on guanxi has been influential and by scholars offering insights on the topic. The authors examine the role of guanxi in: business decisions among managers and entrepreneurs; the decisions and practices of workers; the construction of new legal institutions; the new social order. Scholars and students of China will find this a rich source of detailed information on the workings of Chinese social relationships and a valuable, new interpretation of the meaning and place of guanxi today. Guanxi (social networks) is among the most important and studied phenomena in China today. In this volume, the editors bring together many of the top scholars of guanxi to present a dynamic view of the role of social networks in Chinese society