ABSTRACT
The contributors to the volume in this book attempt to analyze market processes in relation to their cultural meanings and human organization. They are concerned with two issues. The first is the degree to which there exist moral and organizational precedents for or against modern capitalist enterprise in East and Southeast Asia. In line with this first concern, the chapter seeks to examine the relation of such precedents to broader divisions in society, including those based on religion, ethnicity, gender, and class. This second is related to a broader concern held by a number of contributors to this volume and concerns recent "culturalist" commentaries on Asian politics and economy. A final goal of this volume is to bring economic issues back into more vigorous dialogue with cultural research in East and Southeast Asia. This volume also illustrates the networks at the heart of Chinese business life which are of two basic types, each characterized by its own norms and ambivalences.
