Guanxi, Social Capital and School Choice in China

Ruan, Ji

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-40754-8

Cited by 34 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…Local government bodies have established what are known as 'key schools' and are illegally charging schoolselection fees or 'voluntary' donations (Cai, 2005). Since places in key schools are limited and entrance criteria are flexible, 1 many parents continue to use guanxi to influence headteachers -despite the condemnation that such corrupt practices have attracted from the media (Ruan, 2017a).…”

Section: Background and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fourth, some parents see their child's attendance at a key school as a matter of pride, and fear loss of face if their children go to a regular school. Fifth, some parents want to invest in their children's social capital, and students in key schools tend to come from more affluent and well-connected family backgrounds (Ruan, 2017a).…”

Section: Background and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, we can also see how morality can be constructed through interaction rituals, with these rituals and emotions used to imply justice and morality, improving social capital for the social actors. This is an example of 'ritual capital' (Ruan, 2017a(Ruan, , 2017b.…”

Section: The Construction Of Morality By Ritualmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, people in the two cities always compete to pay a dinner bill in order to show their kindness. It is not necessary for invited guests to pay for the dinner, but they usually offer to pay, even though they know that the host will not allow them to do so (Ruan, 2017a). This kind of ketao or etiquette is an important part of daily life, endowing the person who practices it with greater renqing wei.…”

Section: Ritual Performance In Different Levels Of Closeness In Bribementioning

confidence: 99%

“…One way to maintain one's face, and to show one's renqing and ganqing, is to practice interaction rituals, and guanxi practices are full of such rituals (Ruan, 2017a(Ruan, , 2017b). Goffman has explained that 'societies everywhere, if they are to be societies, must mobilize their members as self-regulating participants in social encounters', and that ritual constitutes '[o]ne way of mobilizing the individual for this purpose' (Goffman, 1955: 231).…”

Section: Introduction: Bribery Guanxi and Ritual Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Motivations for ritual performance in bribery: Ethnographic case studies of the use of guanxi to gain school places in China

Ruan

2019

Current Sociology

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According to Goffman, interaction rituals are underpinned by moral norms, and work in a moral fashion. The research discussed here, based on ethnographic case studies of the use of guanxi (Chinese personal connections) to gain school places in two Chinese cities, reveals that ritual performance in bribery guanxi can construct moral performance, implying justice and morality and thereby giving rise to a bribery subculture. Such moral performance, in turn, increases the social capital of the parties involved. The motivations for moral performance in this context differ. In some cases, the parties regard their practice as illegal and/or immoral, and ritual performance is employed to conceal the illegality of the transaction. In others, the practice of bribery is considered to fall within the renqing ethic, and ritual performance is used to mask the instrumental character of the transaction. Motivations for ritual performance also differ according to the closeness of guanxi ties between the briber and the bribed. This article identifies two forms of ritual performance – ‘ ketao ritual’, a form of renqing that attempts to mask instrumentality, and ‘tacit ritual’, which attempts to conceal illegality – and reveals how the individuals’ performance is related to different levels of closeness in guanxi. Although bribery takes place in many societies, the uses of ritual to morally validate bribery in China, especially the combination of ketao and tacit ritual, seems to be a particular cultural phenomenon.

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Section: Background and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Background and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Construction Of Morality By Ritualmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ritual Performance In Different Levels Of Closeness In Bribementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction: Bribery Guanxi and Ritual Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

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