Taking off the “Red Hat” of Chinese Private Entrepreneurs: Corruptive Capitalists, Innovative Collaborators, and Political Opponents

• In Event: 349 - Section on Sociology of Development Paper Session. Emerging Issues in the Sociology of Development

Abstract

China’s new capitalists who have grown from the booming private sector in the post-communist era are widely-regarded as supporters of China’s authoritarian political regime – the oft-cited “red capitalists.” Challenging the common view on the intertwined ties between private entrepreneurs and political elites, this research applies a neo-institutional, agency-centered perspective to examine how private entrepreneurs’ innovative activities have shaped their political values through contributing to the construction of a new institutional life – where these capitalists are able to survive and grow outside of the formal institutional realm delineated by the government. Based on statistical analysis of a firm-level nationally representative dataset, I find no evidence for China’s private entrepreneurs’ “redness.” Instead, results show that entrepreneurs’ involvement in bribing the government leads to their unfavorable opinions on the political regime. Private entrepreneurs’ organizational innovations and particularly collaborative innovations beyond the firm level are found to significantly shape their political values, contributing to their potential role as political opponents in the future.

Author

• Junmin Wang, University of Memphis