Researching Hybridity in Social and Economic ... - NUS Home
Researching Hybridity in Social and Economic ... - NUS Home
Researching Hybridity in Social and Economic ... - NUS Home
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This significant shift <strong>in</strong> my own research methodology is attributed largely to my grow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
awareness of my positionality as an ethnic Ch<strong>in</strong>ese research<strong>in</strong>g Ch<strong>in</strong>ese capitalism <strong>and</strong> the<br />
dynamic transformations <strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>ese capitalism <strong>in</strong> relation to globalization tendencies. In other<br />
words, my perspective on Ch<strong>in</strong>ese capitalism changes <strong>in</strong> relation to critical reflections on my<br />
research positionality <strong>and</strong> the material processes that <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly hybridize Ch<strong>in</strong>ese<br />
capitalism <strong>in</strong> a global era.<br />
To beg<strong>in</strong>, I want to offer a confession about my own positionality <strong>in</strong> the ten-year<br />
course of produc<strong>in</strong>g all those published texts on Ch<strong>in</strong>ese capitalism. Know<strong>in</strong>gly or not, these<br />
texts are part <strong>and</strong> parcel of the wider actor networks that may shape the transformations <strong>in</strong><br />
Ch<strong>in</strong>ese capitalism. In particular, all those exchanges of perspectives dur<strong>in</strong>g my <strong>in</strong>terviews<br />
with key actors <strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>ese family firms, my <strong>in</strong>teractions with lead<strong>in</strong>g experts <strong>in</strong> academic<br />
workshops <strong>and</strong> conferences <strong>and</strong> readers of my published work would have produced<br />
un<strong>in</strong>tended effects on Ch<strong>in</strong>ese capitalism. When I first embarked on my research <strong>and</strong> writ<strong>in</strong>g<br />
as a half-baked “culturalist” <strong>in</strong> the early 1990s, I was naïve enough to believe unquestionably<br />
<strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>tr<strong>in</strong>sic importance of guanxi or social relationships <strong>in</strong> expla<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the economic<br />
organization of Ch<strong>in</strong>ese capitalism. A “culturalist” is simply someone who deploys culture to<br />
expla<strong>in</strong> all forms of economic action <strong>and</strong> outcomes. As a firm believer <strong>in</strong> the role of culture<br />
then, I saw the Ch<strong>in</strong>ese cultural trait of guanxi as essentially shap<strong>in</strong>g the behaviour <strong>and</strong><br />
activities of ethnic Ch<strong>in</strong>ese bus<strong>in</strong>ess firms. While my fasc<strong>in</strong>ation with culture <strong>and</strong> ethnicity <strong>in</strong><br />
shap<strong>in</strong>g economic organizations predates the “cultural turn” <strong>in</strong> economic geography (see<br />
Thrift <strong>and</strong> Olds, 1996; Lee <strong>and</strong> Wills, 1997; Barnett, 1998; Barnes, 2001), what I did not<br />
realize at the time was that I was <strong>in</strong>deed substitut<strong>in</strong>g one form of (economic) essentialism<br />
with another – cultural essentialism. In retrospect, my false beliefs <strong>in</strong> the “culturalist”<br />
perspective on Ch<strong>in</strong>ese capitalism had much to do with my positionality as an ethnic Ch<strong>in</strong>ese<br />
born <strong>in</strong> ma<strong>in</strong>l<strong>and</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>a <strong>and</strong> as a citizen <strong>in</strong> a predom<strong>in</strong>antly ethnic Ch<strong>in</strong>ese economy<br />
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