Community Capitalism in China
The State, the Market, and Collectivism

Hou offers a 'both/and' perspective of the state, market, capitalism and communism by examining the local institutional innovation in China.

Xiaoshuo Hou (Author)

9781107030466, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 February 2013

164 pages, 16 b/w illus. 6 maps 8 tables
23.5 x 15.5 x 1.5 cm, 0.36 kg

'… a rich and comprehensive study of an original path of development introduced by some small-size communities in rural China in order to adapt to the new rules of state-controlled capitalism and the privatization of social welfare benefits.' Thomas Boutonnet, The China Journal

Hou proposes to end the dichotomous view of the state and the market, and capitalism and communism, by examining the local institutional innovation in three villages in China and presents community capitalism as an alternative to the neoliberal model of development. Community is both the unit of redistribution and the entity that mobilizes resources to compete in the market; collectivism creates the boundary that sets the community apart from the outside and justifies and sustains the model. Community capitalism differs from Mao-era collectivism, when individual interests were buried in the name of collective interests and market competition was not a concern. This book demonstrates the embeddedness of the market in community, showing how social relations, group solidarity, power, honor, and other values play an important role in these villages' social and economic organization.

Preface
1. The curse revisited: the dynamics of social change in China
2. Circle on the outside, square on the inside
3. Socialism with Huaxi characteristics
4. Capitalism reborn or collectivism rediscovered
5. Back to the future: community capitalism and the search for alternatives.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], International economics [KCL], Economics [KC], Marxism & Communism [JPFC]