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"Social capital (Sociology) -- China"
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Social Capital and Institutional Constraints
The sociological concept of social capital has grown in popularity in recent years and research programs in North America, Europe, and East Asia have demonstrated how social capital has a significant impact on occupational mobility, community building, social movement, and economic development.
This book uses new empirical data to test how social capital works in different societies with diverse political-economic and cultural institutions. Taking a comparative approach, this study focuses on data from three different societies, China, Taiwan, and the United States, in order to reveal the international commonalities and disparities in access to, and activation of, social capital in labor markets. In particular, this book tests whether political economic and cultural differences between capitalist and socialist economic systems and between Western and Confucian cultures create different types of individual social networks and usages. This comparison leads to Joonmo Son's fundamental argument that the institutional constraints of a society's political economy on the one hand, and culture on the other, profoundly impact on both the composition and utilization of social capital.
Based on rigorous statistical analysis, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of social capital, economic sociology, and comparative politics.
eBook
Reliability and Validity of the Personal Social Capital Scale 16 and Personal Social Capital Scale 8: Two Short Instruments for Survey Studies
Rapid developments in social capital and health research require short instruments for large-scale survey studies. The Personal Social Capital Scale (PSCS) is a theory-based and empirically tested instrument with reliability and validity established in the US and China, but it is too long for large-scale survey research. In this study, we described two short versions of the instrument: the PSCS-16 and PSCS-8. The two short scales were evaluated with survey data collected among an adult sample (N = 259) in China. The sample consisted of rural-to-urban migrants and non-migrant rural and urban residents. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were .90 for the PSCS-18 and .83 for the PSCS-8. Both short instruments satisfactorily fit a two-factor model comprising the bonding capital and bridging capital subscales. The two short scales were highly correlated with the original PSCS (r = .95 for the PSCS-18 and .93 for the PSCS-8 respectively, p < .001 for both); significantly distinguished the migrant subsample from the two non-migrant subsamples; and significantly predicted social capital investment and stress level. In conclusion, the two short instruments PSCS-16 and PSCS-8 were reliable and valid, and can be used in large-scale survey studies to assess personally owned social capital. Further research is needed to replicate their reliability and validity in different cultural settings and to establish the test–retest reliability.
Journal Article
Political Capital in a Market Economy
This research applies a transaction-focused institutional analysis to compare the value of political capital in different institutional domains of China's market economy. Our results show that the value of political capital is associated with institutional domains of the economy in which agents can use political connections to secure advantages. Political capital is most fungible in institutional domains where government restricts economic activity. In this sense, the value of political connections in China does not differ fundamentally from patterns observable in established market economies. We interpret this as evidence suggesting China may have experienced a tipping point in its transition to a market economy around the turn of the new century.
Journal Article
Does Social Capital Promote Health?
The determinants of health are influenced by genetics, lifestyle, social environment, medical conditions, etc. As an informal system, social capital plays an increasingly recognized role in individual health. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the direct and indirect effects of social capital on individual health in China. Using cross-sectional data from the China Family Panel Studies 2016, this paper explores the effects of cognitive and structural social capital on individual health from a micro perspective. The results show that both types of social capital have significant positive effects on individual health, and this effect remains after endogeneity is considered. The two types of social capital show obvious heterogeneity in age samples, urban and rural samples and north–south samples. In addition, the mechanism analysis shows that the health promotion effects of the two types of social capital are mainly derived from the effects of informal finance and access to medical resources. Based on the above findings, this paper puts forward policy recommendations.
Journal Article
Measuring Social Capital Investment: Scale Development and Examination of Links to Social Capital and Perceived Stress
Individuals with greater social capital have better health outcomes. Investment in social capital likely increases one's own social capital, bearing great implications for disease prevention and health promotion. In this study, the authors developed and validated the Social Capital Investment Inventory (SCII). Direct effects of social capital investment on perceived stress, and indirect effects through social capital were examined. 397 Participants from Beijing and Wuhan, China completed surveys. Analyses demonstrated that the SCII has a single factor structure and strong internal consistency. Structural equation modeling showed that individuals who invested more in social capital had greated bonding social capital, and subsequently less perceived stress. Results suggest that disease prevention and health promotion programs should consider approaches to encourage social capital investment; individuals may be able to reduce stress by increasing their investment in social capital. Future research is needed to provide additional empirical support for the SCII and observed structural relationships.
Journal Article
Social Capital, Trusting, and Trustworthiness: Evidence from Peer-to-Peer Lending
How does social capital affect trust? Evidence from a Chinese peer-to-peer lending platform shows that regional social capital affects the trustee’s trustworthiness and the trustor’s trust propensity. Ceteris paribus, borrowers from regions with higher social capital receive larger bids from individual lenders and have higher funding success, larger loan sizes, and lower default rates, especially for low-quality borrowers. Lenders from regions with higher social capital take higher risks and have higher default rates, especially for inexperienced lenders. Cross-regional transactions are most (least) likely to be realized between parties from regions with high (low) social capital.
Journal Article
Trust, Social Networks and Subjective Wellbeing in China
Using data from the World Values Survey, this study examines the associations among trust, social networks and subjective wellbeing in China. We address the endogenous nature of trust and social networks, and examine how these elements of social capital affect subjective wellbeing. We also explore the interplay between trust and social networks. Existing literature suggests that trust and social networks positively impact wellbeing, with one strand of the literature suggesting that in developed countries social capital is a stronger determinant of wellbeing than income. However, we find that this is not the case for China (a developing country) where the effects of trust and social networks on wellbeing are found to be relatively weaker compared to the effect of income.
Journal Article
Exploring Livelihood Resilience and Its Impact on Livelihood Strategy in Rural China
In an effort to mitigate ecological environments and improve human well-being, the Chinese government’s largest-ever relocation and settlement programme is underway. Measuring livelihood resilience and further assessing its impact hold the key to strengthening adaptive capacity and well-being in poverty resettlements. Using a household survey of contiguous poor areas in Southern Shaanxi, China, this research proposes a framework to examine livelihood resilience and its impact on livelihood strategies in the context of poverty alleviation resettlement. To provide more comprehensive empirical evidence, we drew on three dimensions of the previously proposed livelihood resilience framework: buffer capacity, self-organizing capacity, and learning capacity. The results show that capital endowments, social cooperation networks, transportation convenience, and skills acquired from education and rural–urban migration can significantly affect the construction of livelihood resilience. The resilience of households that were relocated because of ecological restoration is the highest, followed by households relocated because of disasters; households relocated because of poverty reduction attempts have the lowest resilience. As for indicators of livelihood resilience, physical capital assets and previous work experience play a major role in household livelihood strategies for pursuing non-farming activities, while household size, stable income, social capital, and information sharing result in diversified livelihood strategies. These findings provide policy implications for enhancing livelihood resilience capacities and improving the scope of available livelihood strategies to emerge from the poverty trap and to adapt to the new environment.
Journal Article