Structural Embeddedness in Transnational Social Fields: Personal Networks, International (Im)Mobilities, and the Migratory Capital Paradox

In this article we focus on individuals’ structural embeddedness in transnational social fields (TSFs) and examine how this is related to patterns of international mobility. The main argument is that the structure of TSFs matters for (im)mobility trajectories, and thus all actors (migrants, non‐migrants, and returnees) need to be examined as a whole to obtain a deeper understanding of the role of social networks in processes of transnational mobility. Taking the case of Romanian migrants in Spain as a TSF connecting their place of origin (Dâmbovița in Romania) with their destination (Castelló in Spain), we analyze survey data for 303 migrants, non‐migrants, and returnees, sampled through an RDS‐like binational link‐tracing design. We then categorize types of personal network using an international mobility scale to assess the degree of structural embeddedness in the TSF. An important contribution is the rigorous operationalization of TSF and assessment of the level of migratory capital of each individual. Our results reveal that migratory capital is not always linked positively with high mobility patterns and that its role is strongly related to the overall composition and structure of the TSF.

How Do Network Embeddedness and Environmental Awareness Affect Farmers’ Participation in Improving Rural Human Settlements?

Based on social embeddedness theory, this paper aims to explore the influence mechanism of network embeddedness and environmental awareness on farmers’ participation in improving rural human settlements (IRHS). This research applies the Logit model and the Bootstrap method, using survey data from 495 farmers in Hubei Province, China. The results show that: (1) relational embeddedness has a significant negative impact on the centralized treatment of farmers’ domestic sewage, implying that strengthening the relationship between farmers and households helps to provide them with centralized treatment for domestic sewage; (2) environmental awareness has a significant positive impact on the centralized treatment of farmers’ domestic sewage, implying that the enhancement of farmers’ environmental awareness increases the promotion centralized treatment for domestic sewage; and (3) structural embeddedness can further affects farmers’ environmental awareness and then affects their participation in the centralized treatment of domestic sewage, implying that environmental awareness has a mediating effect between structural embeddedness and the centralized treatment of farmers’ domestic sewage. Overall, it is necessary not only to encourage the establishment of extension and discussion networks for farmers (relational embeddedness) to participate in IRHS but also to improve environmental education for farmers, especially by increasing their access to environmental knowledge and information (environmental awareness in mountainous areas, and, finally to support farmers. The relationship between the members and the village cadres (structural embeddedness) can further improve farmers’ awareness of participation in IRHS to better guide them in the centralized treatment of domestic waste and domestic sewage.

Self-Governance in Generalized Exchange. A Laboratory Experiment on the Structural Embeddedness of Peer Punishment

Peer punishment is widely lauded as a decentralized solution to the problem of social cooperation. However, experimental evidence of its effectiveness primarily stems from public good structures. This paper explores peer punishment in another structural setting: a system of generalized exchange. In a laboratory experiment, a repeated four-player prisoner’s dilemma is arranged either in a public good structure or in a circular network of generalized exchange. The experimental results demonstrate that the merits of peer punishment do not extend to generalized exchange. In the public good, peer punishment was primarily altruistic, was sensitive to costs, and promoted cooperation. In generalized exchange, peer punishment was also altruistic and relatively frequent, but did not increase cooperation. While the dense punishment network underlying the public good facilitates norm enforcement, generalized exchange decreases control over norm violators and reduces the capacity of peer punishment. I conclude that generalized exchange systems require stronger forms of punishment to sustain social cooperation.

Resource Support or Emotional Trust: Effects of Perceived Organizational Support on Entrepreneurial Performance of Global Talents in China

Global talents are introduced for entrepreneurship and development in China, which is not only a significant way to gather heterogeneous human capital and realize industrial transformation and upgrading in a short period of time, but also a strategic measure to drive innovative development and build an innovative country relying on talents. The regional innovation network gathers innovation elements such as upstream and downstream enterprises, universities and scientific research institutes in the industrial chain, which provides great information and resource support for global talents to gather innovation and entrepreneurship in China. Taking global talents in China as the research object, this paper constructs the relationship model among perceived organizational support, innovation network embeddedness and entrepreneurship performance in innovation network and conducts empirical research. The survey data of Global Talents in China was analyzed by SPSS 24.0 and MPLUS 7.4. The results show that the two dimensions of perceived organizational support instrumentality and emotionality have significant positive impact on entrepreneurial performance and innovation network embeddedness; while innovation network embeddedness has significant positive effects on entrepreneurial performance, but the influence of structural embeddedness is more significant than that of relational embeddedness; relational embeddedness and structural embeddedness play a partial mediating role in the influence of instrumental support and emotional support on technological innovation performance, while structural embeddedness plays a complete mediating role in the influence of instrumental support and emotional support on growth potential performance. Based on the results of empirical research, the paper proposes to further optimize the allocation of network resources, strengthen emotional support, expand the scale of innovative network, and strive to create an international talent development environment that is similar to overseas.

Pro-Capitalist Violence and the Great Wave of Dispossession

This article aims to theorize the role of violence in securing and promoting conditions for capital accumulation in the era of globalization by focusing on neoliberal development projects in the global South. To this end, I introduce the concept of pro-capitalist violence, with an emphasis on its manifestations in agrarian contexts in Colombia, Mexico, and Honduras—countries that rank as the deadliest places in the world for defenders of land rights and the environment. I show that not all collective violence in these countries is a product of organized crime, gangs, or armed conflict between states and guerrilla groups. The central argument is that pro-capitalist violence has been an essential instrument enabling the neoliberal agrarian restructuring of Latin American countries through dispossession and repression. The article develops two propositions as an entry point to theorizing pro-capitalist violence: its structural embeddedness, exposed by capturing its positive interaction with economic and security legislation; and its multifaceted nature, shown by tracing its different modalities.