Under The Table: An Anthropology of Corruption Podcast

Alan Smart on Corruption and Informality in Hong Kong (11/1/23)

Nov 1, 2023

Alan Smart, a researcher on Chinese practices of gift-mediated friendship and informality in Hong Kong's squatter settlements, discusses the role of guanxi relations in capitalist ventures and the importance of informality in Hong Kong. Topics include corruption, challenges faced by outside investors in China, maintaining embeddedness in business, the role of squatters in Hong Kong, archival work, and distinguishing corruption from care in academia.

01:11:26

Episode guests

Alan Smart

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Guangxi is a networking practice in China that emphasizes building strong relationships through gift exchange and mutually beneficial actions.

Informality plays a significant role in government practices, including higher levels of power, leading to the bending or breaking of rules.

Informality within the government has shaped housing practices in Hong Kong, highlighting the need for an open-ended understanding of informality.

Deep dives

Alan Smart's research trajectory

Dr. Alan Smart, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Calgary, discusses his research trajectory from studying illegal and squatter housing in Hong Kong to his interest in the concept of informality, particularly in relation to networking practices in mainland China.

Introduction

3min

Informality and Corruption in Hong Kong

20min

Finding Balance in Business and Maintaining Embeddedness

23min

The Role of Squatters in Hong Kong

9min

Archival Work, Collaboration, and the Concept of Informality

4min

Corruption and Informality: Exploring the Relationship

8min

Distinguishing Corruption from Care and the Informal Norms of Academia

4min

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.

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Under The Table: An Anthropology of Corruption Podcast

Alan Smart on Corruption and Informality in Hong Kong (11/1/23)

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Alan Smart's research trajectory

Understanding Guangxi as a concept

The importance of informality in government practices

Dr. Smart's book on squatter housing in Hong Kong

Exploring the concept of informality

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts