Sylvia and Aaron interview Alan Smart about his research on Chinese practices of gift-mediated friendship (guanxi) and the role of guanxi relations in capitalist ventures. Guanxi is increasingly viewed as a form of corruption but it remains important to the success of new commerce. This leads us to discuss the role of informality in general and specifically in Hong Kong's contested squatter settlements, which is the subject of Alan's most recent book. Alan leaves us with some useful guanxi-inspired advice for academic success, which might be particularly interesting for our junior academic listeners.
(Very) Selected References
Books
(co-authored with Fung Chi Keung Charles) 2023. Public Housing and Formalizing Squatting in Hong Kong, 1963–1985. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
1992. Making Room: Squatter Clearance in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: University of
Hong Kong, Centre of Asian Studies.
Articles
1993. “Gifts, Bribes and Guanxi: A reconsideration of Bourdieu’s Social Capital.”
Cultural Anthropology 8, no. 3: 388–408.
(with Josephine Smart) 2017. “Formalization as Confinement in Colonial Hong
Kong.” International Sociology 32, no. 4: 437–453.
2018. “The Unbearable Discretion of Street-Level Bureaucrats: Corruption and
Collusion in Hong Kong.” Current Anthropology 59, no. S18: S37–S47.
