Interpersonal Networks and Workplace Controls in Urban China

Abstract

We very often make choices in our lives in establishing and maintaining (or withdrawing from) social ties. Over time, some social ties develop into intimate relationships and others do not. Sociologists argue that the choices we make are almost never the pure result of our individual preferences.' It has been shown that even the choice of spouse, one's most intimate tie, is socially constrained.2 To understand fully the pattems of interpersonal relationships in a particular society, one should look at the macro-structural conditions under which patterns of social relationship take shape.