The guanxi influence on occupational attainment in urban China

Abstract

This article addresses a long-standing controversy about whether or not the influence of guanxi on occupational attainment has been on the decline during China’s market reforms. The authors argue that guanxi continuously plays an influential role in facilitating occupational attainment when China’s labor markets face a great deal of institutional uncertainty. A large-scale survey of job seekers shows that the number of Chinese job seekers who used guanxi contacts to secure employment increased from 40 percent in 1978 to 80 percent in 1999. Job seekers’ ties to guanxi contacts were predominantly strong rather than weak, and these ties were used to obtain both job information and the influence of guanxi favoritism. As compared to information gainers, influence gainers were significantly more satisfied with job outcomes, more satisfied with work relations, and better able to obtain soft-skill jobs when market reforms were deepening in the 1992–1999 period.

The Structure of Labor Markets in the US and China: Social Capital andGuanxi

“…Personal choices and relations in China, a socialist country at early stages of industrialization and economic development, seem to be remarkably similar to those in the United States, a capitalist country at advanced stages, quite possibly because particularism governs personal relations regardless of cultural, political, or economic differences. (Blau, Ruan, & Ardelt 1991: 1037 Since Blau et al (1991) called attention to the universal nature of particularism in contrasting the US and China, research on labor market processes in both countries has found empirical evidence of their claims (Bian & Huang, 2016;Bian, In Press;DiTomaso, 2013). Particularism by use of social networks in the job search process has become a major theme in the research on inequality in both the US and China (Lin, 1999b;Lin, Fu, & Chen, 2013).…”

The State-Owned Enterprise as an Identity: The Influence of Institutional Logics onGuanxiBehavior

“…The cultural view suggests that guanxi persists in Chinese society no matter how the institutional environment changes because its roots reside in the Confucian culture (Yang, 1994). Consistent with this argument, previous research has found that the effect of guanxi on entry-level wages in the Chinese labor market persisted after the reform (Bian & Huang, 2015a), and the role of guanxi in finding jobs increased after the reform (Bian, 1997(Bian, , 2002Bian & Huang, 2015b), especially in the state sector (Tian & Lin, 2016). However, the institutional view argues that the importance of guanxi has declined in China as the development of rational and legal system has resolved the institutional uncertainty that fosters guanxi behavior (Guthrie, 1998).…”

A Sociological Review of China's Social Credit Systems and Guanxi Opportunities for Social Mobility

“…While guanxi networks are useful in facilitating the job search process (Bian & Huang, 2015), even individuals with strong guanxi networks are required to maintain a high social credit score to for some types of employment.…”

“…As a socialist country with an economy that has opened up to the world since the 1978 economic reforms, the tension between economic growth and social equality in China presents an interesting case for sociologists to study. In particular, China's dichotomous systems, namely a thriving market economy embedded within a larger socio‐cultural ideology of economic progress and social welfare driven by a powerful communist bureaucratic state apparatus have prompted many academics to write about guanxi (social networks) as a critical force for upward social mobility (see Bian, ; Bian, ; Bian & Ang, ; Bian & Huang, ). Or more recently, the literature documents the rise of social credit systems as means to reward and punish citizens' aspirations for social and economic mobility based on objectified ratings (Engelmann, Chen, Fischer, Kao, & Grossklags, ; Fourcade & Healy, ; Kostka, ).…”

“…By utilizing punishments and rewards, social credit systems are able to regulate social behaviors (Engelmann et al, ) and shape life chances (Fourcade & Healy, ). In particular, guanxi networks, which are social networks based upon notions of favor exchange, interpersonal sentiments and obligations, feature prominently within China (see Bian, ; Bian, ; Bian & Ang, ; Bian & Huang, ). While guanxi networks play a significant role in occupational attainment and social stratification in China, little is known about the impact of social credit systems on guanxi networks.…”