This book analyzes the relationship between trust and social capital in contemporary Chinese society. It attempts to clarify the differences in degree among various types of trust in China today and the logic of social actions, hoping to provide a new perspective from which China's local social relationship networks can be understood.
The book contributes to the field of contemporary Chinese sociology in the numerous ways. First, it improves the methods for comparing the ways in which different types of trust are measured. Second, it analyzes the regional differences in trust (especially universal trust) across China. Third, it discusses the impact of social capital (social relations and their embedded resources) on trust and tests the relationship for linearity and curvilinearity. Fourth, it explores whether the relationship between social capital and universal trust is regulated by institutional structural resources. The analysis of the regulatory role of structural resources paves the way for a more comprehensive theory of the relationship between social capital and trust.
The book will be of interest to students and scholars of Sociology, Contemporary China, and East Asian Studies. It will also be a valuable source of reference for policy makers on the improvement of social institutions.
Author(s): Zou Yuchun
Series: China Perspectives
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 215
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of figures
List of tables
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Intellectual genesis
1.2 Theoretical background
1.3 Research questions and contributions
1.4 Chapter summaries
Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 Trust theory and empirical research
2.1.1 A comparative study of trust and differences
2.1.1.1 The importance and connotation of trust
2.1.1.2 Trust pattern and comparison of different types
2.1.1.3 Comparison of China’s regional differences in generalized trust
2.1.2 Factors and mechanisms affecting the generation of trust
2.1.2.1 Theories on factors influencing trust
2.1.2.2 Theories on the mechanism affecting trust
2.1.3 Discussion on the mechanism of generating trust: traditional perspective vs. network perspective
2.1.4 Importance of generalized trust and its generation mechanism
2.1.4.1 Importance of generalized trust
2.1.4.2 Generation of generalized trust
2.2 Social capital
2.2.1 Concepts
2.2.2 Theory overview
2.2.2.1 Information resources, structural position and social networks
2.2.2.2 The creation and returns on capital
2.2.3 Measurement approaches
2.2.4 Indicator design
2.2.5 Returns on social capital
2.2.5.1 Linear utility
2.2.5.2 Curved utility
2.3 Social capital and generalized trust
2.3.1 Trust is not tantamount to social capital
2.3.2 Action mechanism of social capital on generalized trust
2.3.3 The theory of multidimension measurement
2.4 The theory of utility space of social capital: the role of structural resources
2.4.1 Household registration
2.4.2 Housing
2.4.3 Workplace
Notes
Chapter 3: Research framework and methods
3.1 Research framework
3.2 Research hypotheses
3.3 Data, variables and analysis models
3.3.1 Data
3.3.2 Variables and analysis models
3.3.2.1 Variables and analysis models related to hypothesis 1
3.3.2.1.1 Independent variables and dependent variables
3.3.2.1.2 Control variables
3.3.2.1.3 Analysis models
3.3.2.2 Variables and analysis models related to Hypothesis 2
3.3.2.2.1 Independent variables
3.3.2.2.2 Dependent variable
3.3.2.2.3 Control variables
3.3.2.2.4 Analysis models
3.3.2.3 Variables and analysis models related to hypotheses 3 and 4
3.3.2.3.1 Independent variables
3.3.2.3.2 Dependent variable and control variables
3.3.2.3.3 Analysis models
3.3.2.4 Variables and analysis models related to hypothesis 5
3.3.2.4.1 Moderator variables
3.3.2.4.2 Analysis models
Notes
Chapter 4: Internal and regional differences in trust
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Comparison of trust across different types
4.2.1 Comparison of trust in natural persons
4.2.2 Comparison of trust in institutional representatives
4.2.3 Comparison of trust in natural persons and trust in institutions
4.2.4 Comparison of the 12 types of trust
4.2.5 Summary
4.3 Regional differences in generalized trust
4.3.1 Overview
4.3.2 Difference testing
4.3.3 Summary
4.3.3.1 Improving the external environment to elevate the social status of females
4.3.3.2 Giving attention to population aging and providing sufficient social support for the elderly
4.3.3.3 Promoting equal access to education and public resources
Notes
Chapter 5: Analysis of urban residents’ social capital
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Social capital created in discussion networks
5.2.1 Overview
5.2.1.1 Network size
5.2.1.2 Number of relatives and nonrelatives and kin-proportion
5.2.1.3 Network density
5.2.1.4 Heterogeneity indicators
5.2.1.5 Relationship types
5.2.2 Differences in individual characteristics
5.2.2.1 Network size
5.2.2.2 Kin-proportion
5.2.2.3 Age heterogeneity
5.2.2.4 Educational heterogeneity
5.2.2.5 Sex heterogeneity
5.3 Social capital created in Chinese New Year greeting networks
5.3.1 Overview
5.3.1.1 Network size
5.3.1.2 Network density
5.3.1.3 Occupation size
5.3.1.4 Total and average occupation scores
5.3.1.5 Occupational range and cap
5.3.1.6 Ties indicators
5.3.2 Differences in individual characteristics
5.3.2.1 Network size
5.3.2.2 Network density
5.3.2.3 Occupation size
5.3.2.4 Total occupation score
5.3.2.5 Occupational range
5.3.2.6 Academic ties
5.3.2.7 Leadership ties
5.3.2.8 Managerial ties
5.4 Summary
5.4.1 Indicators of social capital created in discussion networks
5.4.2 Indicators of social capital created in Chinese New Year greeting networks
Notes
Chapter 6: The impact of social capital created in discussion networks on generalized trust
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Curved utility of social capital
6.2.1 Significant impact of the two dimensions of social capital on generalized trust
6.2.2 Curved utility of social capital
6.2.2.1 No inverted U-shaped effect
6.2.2.2 Logarithmic curve
6.2.2.3 Logarithmic curve verification
6.2.2.3.1 The logarithms of the factors of the two types of social capital are placed into the model simultaneously
6.2.2.3.2 The logarithms of the factors of the two types of social capital are put into the model separately
6.2.3 Comparison of the curve utility of the two types of social capital
6.2.4 The impact of individual characteristic variables
6.2.4.1 The impact of some control variables becomes larger or significant
6.2.4.2 The impact of some control variables weakens or goes off
6.2.4.3 Comparison in the intensity of the impact of control variables and social capital factor variables
6.3 Moderating effects of institutionalized structural resources
6.3.1 Household registration resources
6.3.1.1 The number of household registration transfers of key family members
6.3.1.2 Rural-urban transfer of key family members
6.3.2 Property resources
6.3.3 Workplace resources
6.3.3.1 The nature of workplaces
6.3.3.2 The level of the governing body in the administrative hierarchy
6.3.4 Summary
Notes
Chapter 7: Conclusion and discussion
7.1 Conclusion
7.2 Further Analysis
7.2.1 Generalized trust and the Cannikin Law
7.2.2 Social capital: social issues mirrored in the “small world”
7.2.2.1 Regional imbalances in development
7.2.2.2 Cracks in the social fabric
7.2.2.3 Relationalism: a barrier to the development of civil society
7.2.3 A dialectical view of the two dimensions of social capital
7.2.3.1 The relationship between the two dimensions of social capital
7.2.3.2 Measurement of the two dimensions of social capital
7.2.4 Robustness of the utility of social capital
7.2.5 Marginal utility of social capital
7.3 Contribution
7.4 Reflection
7.4.1 Correlation between social capital and generalized trust
7.4.2 Processing of local data and default values
7.4.3 Public resources and individual resources
7.4.4 Dimensions of social capital
7.4.5 Information contained in social capital
Notes
References
Index
