Gendered and sexualized guanxi: the use of erotic capital in the workplace in urban China

Ling Tang

Asia Pacific Business Review, 2020, vol. 26, issue 2, 190-208

Abstract: By critically incorporating the concept of erotic capital, this research, which is based on an ethnographic study of female white-collar employees, discloses the gendered and sexualized dynamics of guanxi in urban China. The research first examines the male-centred standardized routine of guanxi through a detailed analysis of yingchou, a practice consisting of banquets and post-banquet activities, which can involve the use of women as subordinate ‘erotic gifts’. Then, a four-type characterization of white-collar women is developed which demonstrates ways in which women can achieve more agentic, and potentially equal, guanxi status. The types identified in the study are: ‘pseudo-brothers’, ‘rational legal professionals’, ‘the unreachable desired’, and ‘the unspoken rules followers’. Each type has a specific way of navigating the patriarchal structure of guanxi, though boundaries between types are blurred and women may change their strategy, and therefore their type, over time.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1080/13602381.2019.1701264

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