Guanxi, Three Forms or One

2021 ◽  
pp. 147-171
Author(s):  
Jack Barbalet
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
Kin Relations ◽  
Fictive Kinship ◽  
Latent Structures

A consensus holds that guanxi has three forms—family, friendship and acquaintance guanxi—distinguished by the strength of obligation. It is also assumed that through fictive kinship, friendship and family guanxi may merge. The chapter shows that kinship obligations and guanxi obligations are fundamentally dissimilar, thus the notion of family guanxi is redundant, and that pseudo-family ties do not provide access to kin relations but affirm the distinction between family and friendship ties. Because guanxi is cultivated by its participants, friendship guanxi and acquaintance guanxi are not distinct forms but rather different stages of guanxi formation. In considering the sources of these confusions the chapter goes on to discuss problems arising from employment of common-language terms in sociological analysis, untested assumptions concerning Chinese culture, and methodological commitments which privilege latent structures of strong ties. It is shown that the strength of guanxi ties, strategically pursued by participants, fluctuate through agentic practices.

The concept of migration and clandestinity in the Chinese culture

2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-628
Author(s):  
Mara Caira
Keyword(s):  
Internal Migration ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
State Authority ◽  
Migration Flows

In Chinese culture and history, the notion of migration is related to state authority. Voluntary mobility was and is looked down on and discouraged. Separation from, and enlarging of, the motherland are linked. Today Chinese internal migration flows in two channels: legal and illegal. Ethnic features and family ties are also relevant to the Chinese notion of migration.

FAMILY PLOTS: BURYING SLAVES DEEP IN HISTORICAL GROUND

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-75
Author(s):  
Jennifer Glancy
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Acts Of The Apostles ◽  
First Century ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
Fictive Kinship ◽  
Spiritual Authority ◽  
The Family ◽  
Kinship Structure ◽  
The Church

AbstractDespite the anthropological identification of slavery as an anti-kinship structure, some New Testament scholars have attempted to "kin-ify" the relations between slaveholders and slaves, that is, to interpret slavery as a fictive kinship structure. Commentators on Acts of the Apostles, for example, are likely to accept the patriarchal or matriarchal right of householders to enforce decisions concerning the cultic practices of household slaves. By suggesting that the Spirit responds to the invitations of slaveholders, household by patriarchal household, Acts treats enslaved members of households as dependent bodies subjected to the intellectual and spiritual authority of slaveholders. By accepting uncritically Luke's portrait of the growth of the church, household by patriarchal household, commentators unwittingly buy into a family plot that legitimates the slaveholder's preferred vision of the household. Drawing on sources as disparate as Egyptian papyri of the Roman era and personal family history, this article challenges attempts to subsume relationships of slavery within the warm circle of the family. At the same time, the article warns against sentimental depictions of maternal and other family ties. In the first century as in the twenty-first century, the family could be a locus of exploitation and alienation. The natal alienation at the heart of the ancient slave experience is ultimately intertwined with the forms of alienation inherent within families themselves. It is not that relations of slavery are warmer than we might expect, but rather that relations between even the closest of kin can be more exploitative than we want to admit.

Transnational Family Dynamics, Second Generation and the Ties that Flex: Palestinian Migrants between the United States and the West Bank

Hawwa ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riina Isotalo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
Marriage Patterns ◽  
Kin Relations ◽  
Transnational Family ◽  
Short Time Span ◽  
Short Time

AbstractThis article aims at supplementing the discussions on transnational family life and second generation. More specifically, it aims to look at the consequences of spatially fractured parent-child and kin relations and the years spent in the United States in the encounters between young women and different collectives in Palestine; how background shaped their experiences 'at home'. It also intends to distinguish between different family members and power relations and agency created and sustained through transnational family ties. Second- and third-generation transnational ties and practises are often approached from the perspective of the migration destination country. The present article, however, sheds light to the perspective of country of origin and 'reverse migrants' as Levitt (2002) put it. I refer to these individuals as transmigrants (Basch et al. 1994), return migrants and in some cases returnees. The paper argues that young western-born return migrant women associate with transnational family in shifting and sometimes-ambivalent ways that reflect their responses to gendered and generational forms of incorporation and rejection that female transnationals face in specific societal contexts. The argument implicates that the meanings of transnational family ties and the motives behind transnational practices can change even during a rather short time-span. Yet the forms of transnational practices, such as marriage patterns, may remain seemingly traditional. The paper concludes that transnational family ties are a resource for Palestinian migrants of second and third generation; they remain meaningful even when young transmigrants have a conscious oppositional stand in relation to gender roles and family ideology that these ties imply.

scholarly journals Unequal Reach: Cyclical and Amplifying Ties Among Agricultural and Oilfield Workers in Texas

2021 ◽  
pp. 073088842110342
Author(s):  
Kathleen Griesbach
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Weak Ties ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
Reproductive Labor ◽  
Fictive Kinship ◽  
Fictive Kin ◽  
Living Together ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
Resources Sharing ◽  
Over Time

What kinds of ties do agricultural and oil and gas workers form in the field, and how do they use them later on? Why do they use them differently? Scholarship highlights how weak ties can link people to valuable information, while strong ties can be critical for day-to-day survival. Yet many mechanisms affect how workers form and use social networks over time and space. Drawing on 60 interviews and observations with agricultural and oilfield workers in Texas, I examine how both groups form strong ties of fictive kinship when living together in the field far from home—pooling resources, sharing reproductive labor, and using the discourse of family to describe these relationships. Then I examine how they use these ties very differently later in practice. Oilfield workers often use their fictive kin ties to move up and around the industry across space, time, and companies: amplifying ties. In contrast, agricultural workers renew the same strong ties for survival from season to season, maintaining cyclical ties. The comparison highlights how industry mobility ladders, tempos, and geographies affect how workers can use their networks in practice. While both agricultural and oilfield workers become fictive kin in situations of intense proximity, structural differences give their networks unequal reach.

A History of the Concepts of Harmony in Chinese Culture

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Sundararajan
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Intimate Relationship ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Weak Ties ◽  
Ecological Context ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
Asymmetry Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time

This historical overview of the concepts of harmony in Chinese culture situates the topic in the ecological context of a strong-ties society that fosters a type of rationality that privileges symmetry over asymmetry. Analysis of the discourse of harmony focuses on the texts of two native schools of thought—Confucianism and Taoism—and briefly mentions Buddhism (a religion imported from India). The modern history of harmony has just begun but is already portentous. The turbulent course of China’s rapid modernization suggests the possibility that as China transitions from a strong-ties society to the weak-ties global market, harmony may be encountering, for the first time, contradictions that defy harmonization. Whatever the future holds for the Chinese legacy of harmony, its contribution to the happiness and well-being of the individuals in their intimate relationship with self and others is likely to remain unchallenged.

Reproducing Elite Lives

2019 ◽  
pp. 217-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ujithra Ponniah
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Joint Family ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
Fictive Kinship ◽  
The Social ◽  
Business Opportunities ◽  
Urban Contexts ◽  
Kinship Ties ◽  
Familial Roles

This chapter explores the social reproductive roles performed by elite ‘upper’-caste Aggarwal women in family businesses in Delhi. By focusing on women’s associational and familial roles in a South Delhi neighbourhood, three strategies of reproduction are discussed: first, forging inter-strata fictive kinship ties for caste cohesion through women’s ‘social work’; second, forging intra-strata fictive kinship ties for business opportunities through sustained interactions; and third, steering the individuating aspirations of children around marital choices for the unity of the joint family and business. These strategies of elite reproduction highlight the secularizing pulls on gender and caste in urban contexts, despite the dependence of family businesses on caste and family ties. Furthermore, by focusing on women in family businesses, this chapter shows that while they are not passive victims of caste patriarchy neither are they invisible in the male-centric family businesses.

Nepotism in the Hiring of Leaders

2014 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 243-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annick Darioly ◽  
Ronald E. Riggio
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Perceived Competence ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Leadership Position ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
Hiring Decision ◽  
Job Application ◽  
Career Progress

This study examines how applicants who are relatives of the company’s executives are perceived when they are being considered for a leadership position. In a 2 (Family ties: with vs. without) × 2 (Applicant qualifications: well-qualified vs. underqualified) experimental design, 165 Swiss employees read the applicant’s job application and evaluated the hiring decision, the perceived competence, and the perceived career progress of the target employee. This research showed that even a well-qualified potential employee received a more negative evaluation if the candidate had family ties to the company. Despite their negative evaluation of potential nepotistic hires, the participants nevertheless believed that family ties would boost the career progress of an underqualified applicant. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Structuring Situational Information

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 176-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. Rauthmann
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analyses ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Taxonomic Approach ◽  
Situational Information

Abstract. There is as yet no consensually agreed-upon situational taxonomy. The current work addresses this issue and reviews extant taxonomic approaches by highlighting a “road map” of six research stations that lead to the observed diversity in taxonomies: (1) theoretical and conceptual guidelines, (2) the “type” of situational information studied, (3) the general taxonomic approach taken, (4) the generation of situation pools, (5) the assessment and rating of situational information, and (6) the statistical analyses of situation data. Current situational taxonomies are difficult to integrate because they follow different paths along these six stations. Some suggestions are given on how to spur integrated taxonomies toward a unified psychology of situations that speaks a common language.

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