人情、面子与权力的再生产——情理社会中的社会交换方式

Face ( mianzi ) and favor (renqing ) used to be researched in a descriptive level or from the perspective of western sociological theories. This paper argues that they actually work in their own ways with their hypothesis, meaning and functions in Chinese society. Chinese people assume that society should construct in reasonableness ( qingli) , in which favor is a kind of long reciprocity without counting or estimating while face refers to one’s important position in other’s mind in his or her community. The people know that social resources and authority would transmit from the magnates to them if face and favor could be connected with power.