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| SOCIAL NETWORK AND CAPITAL & HUMAN RESOURCES DISTRIBUTION——A Case Study of Xinhui, Guangdong |
| MENG Xiao-chen, ZHAO Jing, XU Long |
| College of Urban & Environmental Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China |
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Abstract In the field of study on social capital, many scholars put social network at the core of the term's definition. Some scholars study the information distribution function of social network and find it plays an important role in the community common actions. Chinese scholars think it is a basic support for social stability in the economic system transition from planning to market. From the new point of view, the authors of this paper take social network as a channel to distribute social resources in economic activities besides two formal channels of planning and market. The function and efficiency of different channels are the main factors which decide the role they play in the social resource distribution. whenever and wherever both market and planning fail, social network gets the space to work. Since China is in the process of changing economic system from planning to market, there are many places where government has drawn back but market doesn't work well. This gives social network a complementary role to take. The paper answers the question that what role the social network plays in resource distribution in China's economic transition. Based on the proposed theory, the authors made a case study in Xinhui, Guangdong Province to check out what the role of social network was by comparing it with market in distributing capital and labor. Through questionnaire and interview, the authors surveyed 150 enterprises and 250 workers. For the sources where the enterprises get investment, market is the main channel. But social network is also used to raise fund, especially in emergent use. Many enterprise managers think social network is an easy, low cost and quick way to get money. Local small enterprises use social network more often than large joint-ventures. In the labor distribution, social network plays a more important role. About one fifth to one forth of employees found their job through social network and blue collar workers depend more on social network to find job. The survey also showed that local people use the social network more often than migrants since they have more intensive network locally. The job gained through social network usually lasted 4.7 years while the job gained through market lasted 2.8 years. This means the jobs distributed by network are more stable. Both enterprises and workers think social network is more reliable. The lack of credit in market gives social network a space in the distribution of resources. The result of analysis supports the proposition that social network plays an active role in distributing capital and labor even in the area where market is relatively developed well like Guangdong province. The conclusion is that social network is complementary to the market and planning.
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Received: 05 April 2007
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2008, Vol. 23 
