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

This book focuses on the use of guanxi (Chinese personal connections) in everyday urban life: in particular, how and why people develop different types of social capital in their guanxi networks and the role of guanxi in school choice. Guanxi takes on a special significance in Chinese societies, and is widely-discussed and intensely-studied phenomenon today. In recent years in China, the phenomenon of parents using guanxi to acquire school places for their children has been frequently reported by the media, against the background of the Chinese Communist Party's crackdown on corruption. From a sociological perspective, this book reveals how and why parents manage to do so. Ritual capital refers to an individual's ability to use ritual to benefit and gain resources from guanxi.

List of contents

Introduction.- Chapter 1. Using Guanxi to Gain School Places.- Chapter 2. Guanxi and Social Capital.- Chapter 3. How is Guanxi Used?.- Chapter 4. Why is Guanxi Used?.- Chapter 5. Ritual Capital.- Chapter 6. A Weak-Strong-Weak Pattern.- Chapter 7.  Trust in Ritual Capital.- Chapter 8. Conclusion.

About the author

Ji Ruan is Lecturer at Hanshan Normal University, China. His research interests include Educational Sociology and Elderly Studies. 

Summary

This book focuses on the use of guanxi (Chinese personal connections) in everyday urban life: in particular, how and why people develop different types of social capital in their guanxi networks and the role of guanxi in school choice. Guanxi takes on a special significance in Chinese societies, and is widely-discussed and intensely-studied phenomenon today. In recent years in China, the phenomenon of parents using guanxi to acquire school places for their children has been frequently reported by the media, against the background of the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on corruption. From a sociological perspective, this book reveals how and why parents manage to do so. Ritual capital refers to an individual's ability to use ritual to benefit and gain resources from guanxi.

Product details

• Authors: Ji Ruan
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.01.2016
• EAN: 9783319407531
• ISBN: 978-3-31-940753-1
• No. of pages: 194
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 17 mm x 217 mm
• Weight: 396 g
• Illustrations: IX, 194 p.
• Series: Springer Palgrave Macmillan; Palgrave Studies on Chinese Education in a Global Perspective; Palgrave Studies on Chinese Education in a Global Perspective
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Education > Education system; Asien, B, Sociology of Education, Education, Sociology, Cultural Studies, International and Comparative Education, Social research & statistics, Child development, Comparative education, International education, Educational sociology, Early Childhood Education, Early childhood care & education, Education and sociology, Asian Culture, Ethnology—Asia