Department of Sociology, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
AJS. 2009 Nov;115(3):712-54. doi: 10.1086/603532.
Based on more than 14 months' ethnographic research in China, this article brings in culture and symbolic interactionism to understand the social embeddedness of economic transactions. First, an analytic frame linking tie strengths to defining principles, relational properties, and interactions is constructed and applied to changes in life insurance transactions in China. The data suggest that strong tie transactions were common until the economic gains of the sellers were made public. The author argues that the ethical-affective principle that defines strong ties and the high intensity of trust, affection, and asymmetric obligation that constitute these ties make them a double-edged sword for economic transactions. Instead, ties with midrange or weak strength are more effective because of their relational complementarity (although direct economic exchanges may take place among strong ties under extreme institutional or contingency conditions). The author also reveals that dramaturgical interactions, through which economic actors exercise their agency, are an integral part of embedded transactions.
基于在中国进行的超过 14 个月的民族志研究，本文引入文化和符号互动论来理解经济交易的社会嵌入性。首先，构建了一个将关系强度与定义原则、关系属性和互动联系起来的分析框架，并将其应用于中国寿险交易的变化。数据表明，在卖方的经济收益公开之前，强关系交易很常见。作者认为，定义强关系的伦理情感原则以及构成这些关系的高度信任、情感和不对称义务的强度使它们成为经济交易的双刃剑。相反，中等或弱强度的关系更有效，因为它们具有关系互补性（尽管在极端制度或应急条件下，强关系之间可能会进行直接的经济交换）。作者还揭示了，通过经济参与者运用其代理权的戏剧互动，是嵌入交易的一个组成部分。
