TY - JOUR
T1 - Chinese economies in ethnographic perspective
T2 - Two case studies of intersecting socioeconomic diversity
AU - Kipnis, Andrew B.
AU - Cliff, Tom
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020.
PY - 2020/11/1
Y1 - 2020/11/1
N2 - This article presents economic interactions in two Chinese socioeconomic realms: urban funerals and village-level welfare funds. Ethnographically examining these realms reveals that each of them comprises a diversity of economic processes and moralities. Our first point is thus that 'the economy' is a multiple rather than a singular entity. But just as important are the means by which actors move from one form of economy to another, bridging different sets of moral rules. Diverse economic processes and the methods of moving among them exist everywhere, but in China they also reflect the legal ambiguity under which much economic activity takes place. In addition to detailing the differing forms of economy and the ways of moving among them, we show how the intersection between these processes helps to reproduce a certain social order, at least under the socioeconomic conditions at the time of our research.
AB - This article presents economic interactions in two Chinese socioeconomic realms: urban funerals and village-level welfare funds. Ethnographically examining these realms reveals that each of them comprises a diversity of economic processes and moralities. Our first point is thus that 'the economy' is a multiple rather than a singular entity. But just as important are the means by which actors move from one form of economy to another, bridging different sets of moral rules. Diverse economic processes and the methods of moving among them exist everywhere, but in China they also reflect the legal ambiguity under which much economic activity takes place. In addition to detailing the differing forms of economy and the ways of moving among them, we show how the intersection between these processes helps to reproduce a certain social order, at least under the socioeconomic conditions at the time of our research.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081586548&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0026749X18000409
DO - 10.1017/S0026749X18000409
M3 - Article
SN - 0026-749X
VL - 54
SP - 1987
EP - 2021
JO - Modern Asian Studies
JF - Modern Asian Studies
IS - 6
ER -