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BA 1997 Yale University Areas
of Interest: Theory Culture Economic
sociology Religion China Organizations Public sociology |
Dyadic Ethics: How Person-to-Person Obligations Change the Meaning of
Debt and Group Strength in Rural China My dissertation
focuses on the effect of moral understandings on the economy. I ask the
question “What are the conditions under which people pay debts?” in the
context of microcredit poverty alleviation programs in rural China. 31 years ago, Muhummad Yunus started the Grameen Bank, giving small loans to poor Bangladeshi
women using social collateral to guarantee the loans. Because the borrowers
were poor, they did not have enough property for lenders to claim if they did
not repay the loan. Instead, the Grameen Bank used
social collateral - that is, instead of using property as collateral for the
loan, social ties were used to motivate repayment. In this region,
villagers barely live above subsistence despite economic growth in other
parts of the country. Considering power, network, and cultural explanations,
I compare two very similar programs with dramatically different repayment
rates. I find that one program makes paying the debt a person-to-group
obligation, while the other makes it a person-to-person (dyadic) obligation.
I argue that, in my field site where Confucian ideas are important, dyadic
obligations are much more meaningful to the villagers than person-to-group
obligations. Where the debt was an obligation between two persons, a much
more favorable response was given. The difference between the two programs is
the meaning and structure of the obligation. People paid debts if the
obligation made sense to them, and in this field site, dyadic obligations
made much more sense. The consideration of these
Confucian ideas provides a new framework for understanding why the villagers
respond differently to debt obligations. Published and
unpublished papers are listed below by topic. WHY PEOPLE PAY
DEBTS 2009. Hsu, Becky. “Debt
and Moral Obligation: Culture, Networks and Microcredit in Rural China.”
Under review.<PDF> What
are the conditions under which people pay debts? Using ethnographic and
interview data from borrowers in microcredit programs in a county in rural
China, I consider sufficiency, power, network, and cultural explanations. In
a region where villagers barely live above subsistence despite economic
growth in other parts of the country, I compare two microcredit programs with
dramatically different responses. One program makes paying the debt a
person-to-group obligation, while the other makes it a person-to-person
obligation. In this field site where Confucian ideas are important,
particularistic obligations are much more meaningful to the villagers than
collective obligations. The consideration of these Confucian ideas provides a
new framework for understanding why the villagers respond differently to debt
obligations. Hsu, Becky. “Confucian
Ethics and Dyadic Ties: Strong Relationships, Weak Groups and Microcredit
Repayments in Rural China.” - Winner, ASA
Section on Asia and Asian America student paper award - Winner, Eastern Sociological Society
Candace Rogers Award for best student paper How do ethical perspectives
influence the perception of choices and the social context within which economic
decisions are embedded? This paper examines a case where strong ties between
individuals in a group lead unexpectedly to weak solidarity of the group as a
whole. Drawing from 128 interviews in rural China, I investigate the effect
of Confucian ethics on microcredit efforts. In Confucian ethics,
person-to-person (dyadic) ties are the sites of moral action, and value is
placed on role performance (acting properly within each relationship), which
varies by social distance and hierarchical status. The villagers are studied
in the context of microcredit efforts: all in each village must repay their
loans in order for anyone to receive subsequent loans. Rather than monitor
and pressure one another to repay to ensure one’s own access to future loans,
the villagers act according to an ethical framework centered on role
performance within dyadic relationships. These findings contribute to the
understanding of the influence of culture on decision-making, social
patterns, and economic development. Hsu, Becky. “Mismatched Moral Dispositions and Economic
Logics: Social Collateral, Liability, and Microcredit in Rural China.”
Working paper. - Winner, ASA Sociological Practice
Section student award - Honorable mention, ASA Theory Section student paper award Economic
decisions are thoroughly moralized by those making them. The implementation
of microcredit programs in rural China offers a setting for analyzing the
dissimilarity between the dispositions assumed in the programs and the
dispositions of the local society. Interviews and ethnographic observation in
a county in rural Yunnan reveal that the villagers interpret program
stipulations according to their practical economic rationality and logics.
Building on approaches to economic sociology that follow the “moralized
markets” perspective, this paper demonstrates that: (1) microcredit programs
are designed with an underlying ideology; (2) social life in the field site
is built upon specific moral underpinnings based on dyadic ethics and role
confinement; and (3) when presented with microcredit programs, Chinese
villagers frame economic decisions within their understandings of morality
and self-interest. This study compares villager reactions to two microcredit
programs based upon social collateral (the first based on group liability,
the second based on dyadic liability). Beyond offering empirical data on how
villagers participate in the market as social actors that define economic
activities as moral actions, the analysis leads us to examine new ways that
morality, rationality and economic decision are intertwined. CULTURE AND THE
DYAD Hsu, Becky. “Culture and the Dyad.”
Working paper. How does
culture influence the prevalence of the dyad in a society? A theory of culture
and the dyad is developed in this article. After reviewing cultural sociology
literature to examine the possibility that culture might affect the dyad, I
sketch a model that considers specifically how culture might be implicated in
the prevalence of the dyad in a society. Then, I provide an empirical
illustration of the model by drawing upon comparative philosophical
scholarship and ethnographic evidence demonstrating how Chinese concepts of
morality increase the prominence of the dyad. Implications and directions for
future research on culture’s influence on the dyad are set forth. INTERNATIONAL
RELIGION DATA 2008. Hsu, Becky, Amy Reynolds, Conrad
Hackett, and Jim Gibbons. “Estimating the Religious Composition of All
Nations: An Empirical Assessment.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
47(4):678-693.<PDF> The
international religious data in the World Christian Database (WCD), and its
print predecessor, the World Christian Encyclopedia (WCE), have been used frequently
in academic studies and the popular press. While scholars have raised
questions about the WCD’s estimation, categories,
and potential bias, the data have not yet been systematically assessed. We
test the reliability of the WCD by comparing its religious composition
estimates to four other data sources (World Values Survey, Pew Global
Assessment Project, CIA World Factbook, and the
U.S. Department of State), finding that estimates are highly correlated. In
comparing the WCD estimates for Islamic countries and American Christian
adherents with local data sources, we identify specific groups for which
estimates differ. In addition, we discuss countries where the data sets
provide inconsistent religious estimates. Religious composition estimates in the
World Christian Database are generally plausible and consistent with other
data sets. The World Christian Database also includes comprehensive
non-religious data. We conclude with recommendations regarding the use of the
WCD in future analysis. This paper
is cited in the following: Grim, Brian J., and Roger Finke.
2007. "Religious Persecution in Cross-National Context: Clashing
Civilizations or Regulated Religious Economies?" American Sociological Review
72:633-658. European
Social Survey, “Contextual data for the European Social Survey: An overview
and assessment of extant sources.” <PDF> http://www.nsd.uib.no/macrodataguide/set.html?id=47&sub=1 Worldmapper
global mapping project at the University of Sheffield http://www.worldmapper.org/extraindex/religion_notes.html Grim, Brian and Becky Hsu. “Measuring the
World Muslim Population.” Working paper. Interest
in Muslims has increased greatly in the past decade, yet there have been very
few academic efforts to estimate the total number of Muslims in the world.
This may not be as surprising when taking into account the difficulty of the
task because of the lack of religion data in the largest international data
sets, inconsistent data gathering methods, incompleteness of data sets. We
offer a best estimate for the number of Muslims in the world along with a
discussion of tricky issues when measuring Muslims. For specialists in the
sociology of religion, our paper offers a discussion of issues that arise
when producing data on religion. For nonspecialists
of religion, we offer straightforward estimates for the total number of Muslims
in the world as well as estimates of Muslims in each country. After
presenting a discussion of the difficulties and issues that arise when one
tries to create an estimate of Muslims worldwide, we outline the rationale
for our estimate. We also present a comparison of our numbers with other
sources. SOCIAL SERVICES 2004. Wuthnow,
Robert, Conrad Hackett, and Becky Hsu. "The Effectiveness and
Trustworthiness of Faith-Based and Other Service Organizations: A Study of
Recipients' Perceptions." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
43: 1-17. <PDF> - Winner, ASA
Sociology of Religion Section distinguished article award Drawing on a new community study of more
than 2,000 residents of low-income neighborhoods, we examine information
about the kinds of service organizations respondents have contacted for
assistance and the perceptions of these respondents about the effectiveness
and trustworthiness of those organizations. We compare contact with and
perceptions of faith-based organizations, nonsectarian organizations,
government agencies, hospitals, and churches and employ a method that takes
account of respondents’ varying portfolios of service providers. The results
indicate that the recipients of faith-based organizations resemble those of
the public welfare department in the extent of financial need and scope of
family problems, and differ significantly from recipients of help from
congregations. The results also indicate that recipients’
evaluations of the effectiveness and trustworthiness of their portfolio of
service organizations are lower when they have sought assistance from public
welfare agencies and higher when they have sought assistance from
congregations, but are not significantly affected by having contacted
faith-based or nonsectarian organizations. Hsu, Becky, Stephanie Boddie
and Conrad Hackett. “The Influence of Individual Characteristics on Desired
Qualities in Social Service Providers.” Working paper. Do recipients vary
in the qualities desired in social service providers based on their
individual characteristics? Using the Lehigh Valley Trust Survey, a survey of
low-income neighborhoods in a mid- sized urban area of northeastern
Pennsylvania (n=2,077), we find that recipients of
social services differ in their desire for specific qualities in social
service providers. The results suggest that the desire for similarity in
religion and race is much stronger among African-Americans, Latinos,
immigrants, those with less education, and evangelical Protestants. Findings
also indicate that the desire for knowledge and experience is higher among
college graduates. Finally, findings suggest that the desire for friendliness
and sincerity is higher in those over age 60. Conversely, African-Americans,
immigrants, and those with lower incomes desire friendliness and sincerity
less in a social service provider. These findings suggest that practitioners
can better align their service referrals or their particular programs for
certain kinds of clients. Implications are that there may be other processes
to look at - namely, the interaction of the client and the practitioner - for
information on how to best serve the client. RELIGION, THE
ECONOMY, AND THE LAW 2007. Hsu, Becky. “Social Capital as the
Underlying Mechanism Linking Religion and Economic Development.” The
International Scope Review 8(13). The purpose of
this paper is to examine the linkages between religion, social ties, and
economic activity through examining three relevant cases in the literature:
the first case, explicates how values stemming from religious beliefs inform
the desire to save money as well as the ability to prevent default. The
strength of social ties in informal lending societies in Indonesia enabled
the groups, ultimately, to embark on remarkable entrepreneurial activities.
The second case, a Buddhist charity organization based in Taiwan, focuses on
the group cohesion created by a charismatic leadership. The members of the
group give of their time and finances sacrificially, giving them the ability
to raise millions of dollars and create organizational infrastructure to
handle the building of hospitals and television stations. The third case, an
American women’s prayer group with Pentecostal roots, illustrates the social
mechanisms by which the sense of facing adversities together leads to
establishing linked identities. These linked identities and common values are
an important determinant of the members’ consumer spending patterns. Hsu,
Becky. “Social Sources of Customary Trustworthiness: The Effect of Religion,
Moral Crystallization and Associational Participation on Propensity to Obey
Laws.” Working paper. What social contexts
increase and decrease one’s attitude towards law-abidingness? The
sociological literature points to the possibility that religion, moral
reasoning, and associational participation are influences on the propensity
to obey laws. This paper focuses on two sets of questions: First, is the
propensity to obey laws a meaningful single construct? Second, what are some
social predictors of law-abidingness? Using data from a large U.S. sample
(n=1,200), confirmatory factor analyses are conducted to examine the
factorial validity of a latent construct representing law-abiding attitudes.
Structural equation models are then used to determine the influence of
religious attendance, moral understandings, and associational participation
on law-abiding attitudes. There are several important findings, including
that (1) one’s attitude toward law-abidingness is measurable as a single,
unobserved variable; (2) attendance of religious services and moral
absolutism are both positively associated with law-abiding attitudes; and (3)
membership in many different types of voluntary associations is negatively
associated with the propensity to obey laws. |
