Economic sociology in Asia – from modernization to embeddedness

Cheris Shun-ching Chan
It is a great honor for me to serve as the first Asian editor of economic sociology. perspectives and conversations. In this privileged position, my first instinct is to introduce economic sociology in Asia to the global readers. With the limited space, this issue focuses on the development of economic sociology in China, Japan, and the four Asian tigers (also known as the four little dragons, which are Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan).

Ping Fu and Dian Yang
Chinese sociology has a long-standing tradition of studying economic phenomena. Although the academic research and discipline construction of contemporary Chinese economic sociology are directly affected by Western economic sociology after the 1970s, Chinese sociologists carried out a large amount of investigation and research on economic phenomena and economic problems before the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The social surveys carried out by scholars record the transformation of Chinese traditional economic and social structure and bring forth a group of influential scholars and academic thought of far-reaching value.

Tsutomu Nakano, Masaru Karube, Yoshimichi Sato, and Naoki Wakabayashi
Economic sociology is an established field in the Western tradition of sociology. Departing from the instrumental rationality of neoclassical economics (Weber 1968), it has made a breakthrough with its foundational conception that economic action of individuals constructs social structures and these social structures heavily influence decision- making of individuals as the economic transactions are embedded in society. Since the rather sensational emergence of economic sociology in Western academia in the late twentieth century, it has been legitimized as a subsection of the American Sociological Association and has evolved into a loosely integrated discipline with its rapid global expansion.

Vincent Chua
Singapore can be described as a “developmental state,” defined by Chalmers Johnson as a state focused on economic development and which takes necessary policy actions to accomplish this objective. He writes specifically about Japan and the role of the economic agency MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) in ushering in the Japanese miracle, but there are striking parallels to the four Asian tigers: South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Johnson says, “In states that were late to industrialize, the state itself led the industrialization drive, that is, it took on developmental functions” (Johnson 1982, 19).

Tai-lok Lui
Economic sociology in Hong Kong is largely an outcome of growing research on its vibrant economic life since the 1960s. As a British colony (prior to July 1, 1997) with a predominantly Chinese population and undergoing export-oriented industrialization at a rapid pace, Hong Kong attracted the attention of social science researchers, both local and overseas. After the 1949 Revolution, when fieldwork in China became no longer feasible, some anthropologists simply saw Hong Kong (and Taiwan as well) as a substitute for their original fieldtrip destination (Baker 2007, 4). Sociologists, however, did not approach their research site in the same manner.

Zong-Rong Lee
Taiwan started its industrialization in the 1960s, when the government pushed development through regulating measures such as tax incentives and subsidies via foreign aid. The market then went through decades of rapid growth, with local businesses booming and becoming pivotal within the nexus of global production networks, marking Taiwan as one of the most successful late-developing economies. Between 1963 and 1996, the nation’s GDP grew on average by more than 9 percent, establishing it as one of the four Asian tigers alongside Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea (Fei et al. 1979; World Bank 1993). The success of Taiwan's economy caught up with the revival of American interest in economic sociology that began in the 1980s.

Kyungmin Baek
Economic sociology in Korea has been growing in earnest since the early 1990s. Scholars influenced by Anglo-American sociology began to criticize the logic of neoclassical economics, which presupposed an atomized independent actor who pursues utility maximization. They claim that social actors are embedded in various social relationships. As a result, social institutions and limited human rationality play an important role in shaping a decision for economic behavior. The scope of their research in Korea has extended to the study of the state, organization, and individual behaviors, and the research outputs have greatly contributed to the analysis of Korean society.

Tiago Cardao-Pito · 2021
Intangible Flow Theory. Human Participation in Economic and Societal Production.
London: Routledge
Reviewer: Felipe Torres

Chuck Collins· 2021
The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions.
Cambridge: Polity Press
Reviewer: Christoph Rausch

Pierre François and Claire Lemercier · 2021
Sociologie historique du capitalisme.
Paris: La Découverte
Reviewer: Monica Prasad

Max Besbris · 2020
Upsold: Real Estate Agents, Prices, and Neighborhood Inequality.
Cambridge: Polity Press
Reviewer: Florencia Labiano