从社会资本向“关系”的转化—中国中小企业成长的个案研究

社会网络与社会资本研究在社会学中的兴起，使得许多中国社会学家用它来研究中国社会中本来属于关系研究的现象。这里的一个问题是社会资本同中国人的关系，关注的是否是同一领域，同一种思考方向。本文通过对中国中小企业的个案研究认为，关系的指向同社会资本的指向有所差别。中国人的关系更多地用来表示庇护、权力运作与行动者与结构之间的权宜，具有个人层面的特征；而社会资本则关注于信息、信任、合作及资源的投资与回报，具有社会与制度性的特征。如果混淆两者，关系研究中的很多重要问题均会遭到遮蔽。

The Transformation from Social Capital to "Relationship": A Case Study of the Growth of China's Medium-sized and Small Enterprises

As theories of social network and social capital are gaining prominence in sociology, many Chinese sociologists are now applying them to the study of what would have belonged to the phenomenon of guanxi （rela-tionship）. But the problem is, do social capital and Chinese guanxi pertain to the same area and follow the same lead of thinking？ Based on the case study of Chinese medium-sized and small enterprises, this paper suggests that guanxi and social capital actually indicate two different things. The Chinese guanxi is more focused on patronage, the influence of power, and relationship with officialdom. It is therefore more of a personal nature. Social capital, on the other hand, mainly involves information, trust, cooperation, and investment of resources and its return. It is therefore more of a social and institutional nature. To confuse the two would make us lose sight of many important issues of guanxi.