Guanxi, Social Capital and School Choice in China: The Rise of Ritual Capital

198 Pages·2017·2.224 MB·English

by  Ji Ruan (auth.)

Guanxi, Social Capital
and School Choice
in China
The Rise of Ritual Capital
JI RUAN
Palgrave Studies on
Chinese Education in a
Global Perspective
Palgrave Studies on Chinese Education
in a Global Perspective
Series Editors
Fred   Dervin
Department of Teacher Education
University of Helsinki
Helsinki ,   Finland
Xiangyun   Du
Confucius Institute, Aalborg University
Aalborg ,   Denmark
Aims of the Series
The transformation of China into a global super-power is often attributed
to the country’s robust education system and this series seeks to provide
a comprehensive, in-depth understanding of the development of Chinese
education on a global scale. The books in this series will analyze and prob-
lematize the revolutions, reforms, innovations and transformations of
Chinese education that are often misunderstood or misrepresented beyond
its own borders and will examine the changes in Chinese education over
the past 30 years and the issues as well as challenges that the future of
Chinese education faces. For more information or to submit a proposal
please contact Eleanor Christie ([email protected])
More information about this series at
http://www.springer.com/series/14568
Ji   Ruan
Guanxi, Social Capital
and School Choice
in China
The Rise of Ritual Capital
Ji   Ruan
Hanshan Normal University
Chaozhou , Guangdong, China
Palgrave Studies on Chinese Education in a Global Perspective
ISBN 978-3-319-40753-1 ISBN 978-3-319-40754-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40754-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016956814
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C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction 1
1.1 The Context 2
1.2 Key Concepts: G uanxi, R enqing and Social Capital 3
1.3 The Study 6
1.4 Structure of the Book 7
Bibliography 8
2 Using G uanxi to Gain School Places 1 1
2.1 How Widespread is the Problem? 1 2
2.2 China’s Institutional System 14
2.3 Stages in China’s Education System 1 8
2.4 Compulsory Education Law 1 9
2.5 Education Policies and Examinations Systems 19
2.6 Unbalanced Development 21
2.7 Educational Situation in City A 2 3
2.8 Educational Situation in City B 2 7
2.9 Research Methodology 2 9
2.9.1 Sampling 2 9
2.9.2 Accessing 30
2.9.3 Covert Observation and Confi dentiality 3 1
Note 3 3
Bibliography 33
v
vi CONTENTS
3 Guanxi and Social Capital 3 7
3.1 Guanxi and Related Concepts 3 8
3.1.1 Clarifying the Defi nition 3 8
3.1.2 Rationale for Using G uanxi 4 0
3.2 How Is G uanxi Used? 4 3
3.2.1 Gift Giving 44
3.2.2 Entertaining 4 5
3.2.3 Exchange of Favours (R enqing Exchange) 4 5
3.2.4 Giving Face 46
3.2.5 Embodying Ganqing 4 7
3.2.6 Applying Ritualised Patterns (K etao ) 4 9
3.2.7 G uanxi–Guanxi 5 0
3.2.8 Interaction Ritual 5 0
3.3 Why Is G uanxi Used? 51
3.3.1 Institutional Causes 5 1
3.3.2 Cultural Causes 5 2
3.3.3 Confucianism and “Instrumental L i ” 5 3
3.3.4 Taoism: From the Cultural Dimensions 5 5
3.4 Social Capital in Different Closeness Levels of G uanxi 5 7
3.4.1 Closeness of  Guanxi and Social Distance 58
3.5 Is Guanxi Social Capital? 6 2
3.5.1 Bonding, Bridging and Linking Social Capital 6 5
3.5.2 The Roles of Different Social Capital in G uanxi 6 7
3.6 Summary 68
Bibliography 69
4 How Is G uanxi Used? 75
4.1 Ritualistic Customs 76
4.1.1 Gift Giving 76
4.1.2 Entertaining 7 8
4.1.3 Exchange of Favours (R enqing Exchange) 8 0
4.1.4 Giving Face 81
4.1.5 Applying Ritualised Patterns (K etao ) 8 3
4.2 Money Giving 84
4.3 The Use of Power 8 8
4.4 Guanxi– Guanxi Links 9 0
4.5 Summary 91
Note 92
CONTENTS vii
Bibliography 92
5 Why Is G uanxi Used? 9 3
5.1 Rationale for Practising G uanxi 9 3
5.1.1 G anqing and Virtues 9 4
5.1.2 R enqing and Face 9 7
5.1.3 Material Gain 100
5.2 Institutional Causes of L a Guanxi 1 01
5.2.1 Vague and Flexible Rules and Laws 102
5.2.2 The Rule of Man 104
5.2.3 Corruption 106
5.3 Cultural Causes of  La Guanxi 1 13
5.3.1 Particularism 113
5.3.2 Collectivism 1 14
5.3.3 Diffuse Culture 1 15
5.4 The Relationship Between Cultural
and Institutional Causes 1 18
B ibliography 119
6 Ritual Capital 1 21
6.1 Ritual Is Vital for L a Guanxi 1 21
6.1.1 Ritualistic Customs Are Full of Ritual 122
6.1.2 Money Giving Is Full of Ritual 1 25
6.1.3 The Use of Power Is Full of Ritual 126
6.1.4 G uanxi—Guanxi Practice Is Full of Ritual 127
6.2 Ritual Capital: Investing Ritual for Social Capital 1 28
6.3 The Characteristics of Ritual Capital 1 31
6.4 Ritual Capital as an Analytical Tool 1 32
Bibliography 134
7 Ritual Capital Follows a Weak-Strong-Weak Pattern 1 35
7.1 Instrumental Rituals Follow the Weak-Strong-
Weak Pattern 1 35
7.2 Instrumental Gift Giving Follows the Weak-Strong-
Weak Pattern 1 36
7.3 Instrumental Entertaining Follows the Weak-Strong-
Weak Pattern 1 40
viii CONTENTS
7.4 Ritualised Patterns (K etao ) Follow the Weak-Strong-
Weak Pattern 1 42
7.5 Renqing Follows the Weak-Strong-Weak Pattern 1 43
7.6 Sense of Face Follows the Weak-Strong-W eak Pattern 1 45
7.7 Why “Weak-Strong-Weak”? 147
7.8 Failure of L a Guanxi 150
Bibliography 152
8 Trust in Ritual Capital 153
8.1 Trust in G uanxi 1 54
8.2 Trust Produced by Confucian Virtues 156
8.3 Trust Produced by Rituals 1 58
8.4 Ritual Capital, Trust, and Interaction Ritual Chains 1 62
Bibliography 165
9 Conclusion 1 67
9.1 Summary of Main Findings 167
9.1.1 The Discovery of Instrumental L i 1 67
9 .1.2 Many Virtues and Obligations Fade with Distance 171
9.1.3 Ritual Builds Trust in  La Gaunxi 1 72
9.1.4 Ritual Capital: Investing Ritual
for Social Capital 1 72
9.2 Comparison with Previous Literature on G uanxi 1 73
9.2.1 Typology of G uanxi Related to Closeness 173
9.2.2 Expressive vs. Instrumental Ritual 177
9.2.3 The Cultural Cause vs. the Institutional Cause 1 77
9.3 Implications for Theory 1 79
Note 181
Bibliography 181
Appendix 183
Appendix 1: Glossary 1 83

Bibliography 1 87
Index 191
L T
IST OF ABLES
Table 2.1 Educational stages in China 19
Table 2.2 Schools selected in City A 24
Table 2.3 Schools in City B 28
Table 2.4 Sampling for participants of City A 30
Table 2.5 Sampling for participants of City B 30
Table 3.1 Typologies of guanxi 61
Table 3.2 Rules of guanxi 61
Table 7.1 Comparison of gift giving 138
Table 7.2 Comparison of sense of indebtedness (renqing) 144
Table 9.1 Comparison of typology of guanxi related to closeness 174
Table 9.2 Comparison of rules of exchange related to closeness 174
ix