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Weber meets Godzilla: social networks and the spirit of capitalism in East Asia and Africa

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  • Kate Meagher

Abstract

This paper explores the cultural foundations of contemporary network capitalism in East Asia, and its implications for African enterprise development. It considers how neo-Weberian perspectives on the cultural determinants of East Asian network success have served to validate intensified processes of labour exploitation while glossing over the role of the state in making networks work for development. It is argued that the ideology of the Confucian ethic draws on notions of social solidarity to normalise the use of unfree labour in capitalist accumulation strategies, while concealing the critical role of the state in mobilising society around cultural values and socialising risk to diffuse potentially disruptive social tensions. The obfuscation of these processes in cultural analyses of Asian network success has cast the poor performance of African enterprise networks as a product of cultural dysfunction, obscuring underlying processes of state withdrawal and policy failure. The problems arising from Chinese business networks in Africa bring out the contradictions of cultural interpretations of network dynamism. [Weber rencontre Godzilla : les réseaux sociaux et l'esprit du capitalisme en Asie de l'Est et en Afrique]. Cet article explore les fondements culturels du réseau du capitalisme contemporain en Asie de l'Est et ses implications pour le développement des entreprises en Afrique. Il considère la manière dont les perspectives néo-wébériennes sur les déterminants culturels de la réussite du réseau de l'Asie de l'Est ont servi à valider les processus intensifiés de l'exploitation du marché du travail tout en passant sous silence le rôle de l'État en faisant en sorte que les réseaux puissent œuvrer pour le développement. Il est soutenu que l'idéologie de l'étique confucéenne s'appuie sur les notions de solidarité sociale afin de normaliser l'utilisation du travail non libre dans les stratégies de l'accumulation capitaliste, tout en dissimulant le rôle déterminant de l'État dans la mobilisation de la société autour des valeurs culturelles et la banalisation du risque susceptible de provoquer des tensions sociales potentielles et perturbatrices. L'occultation de ces processus dans les analyses culturelles de la réussite du réseau asiatique a mis en lumière la mauvaise performance des réseaux d'entreprises africaines en tant que produit d'un dysfonctionnement culturel, occultant les processus souterrains de désengagement de l'État et l'échec des dispositions. Les problèmes émergeant des réseaux d'entreprises chinoises en Afrique mettent en évidence les contradictions d'interprétations culturelles de la dynamique de réseau. Mots-clés : les réseaux sociaux; le capitalisme; l'Asie de l'Est; l'Afrique

Suggested Citation

  • Kate Meagher, 2012. "Weber meets Godzilla: social networks and the spirit of capitalism in East Asia and Africa," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(132), pages 261-278, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:revape:v:39:y:2012:i:132:p:261-278
    DOI: 10.1080/03056244.2012.688804
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    Cited by:

    1. Ben Lampert & Giles Mohan, 2014. "Sino-African Encounters in Ghana and Nigeria: From Conflict to Conviviality and Mutual Benefit," Journal of Current Chinese Affairs - China aktuell, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 43(1), pages 9-39.
    2. Doris Sommer & Pier Luigi Sacco, 2019. "Optimism of the Will. Antonio Gramsci Takes in Max Weber," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-31, January.

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