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David Wank

Sophia University, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Faculty Member

Harvard University, Sociology, Graduate Student

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As a sociologist my general orientation is an ethnographic approach to state and society in China and globalization. My research and publications are in the areas of: politics and networks in China's private business; politics of Buddhism in China; transnational mobilities and the globalization of Japanese cuisine; theoretical and institutional issues in global studies. My courses at Sophia University connect the classroom with the lives of the students while training them in critical analysis and research.
Address: Faculty of Liberal Arts/Graduate Program in Global Studies
Sophia University
7-1 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 102-8554 JAPAN

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Books by David Wank

グローバル社会のダイナミズム―理論と展望 (The Dynamism of Global Society; Theories and Prospects)

カネ、モノ、ヒト、そして情報が「地球」を駆けめぐる!そのとき「地域」はどうなる?見えなかった「グローバル化」の「筋書き」が、ここに明らかに。

Social Connections in China: Institutions, Culture, and the Changing Nature of Guanxi

Guanxi, loosely translated as "social connections," or "social networks," is among the most impor... more Guanxi, loosely translated as "social connections," or "social networks," is among the most important, talked about, and studied phenomena in China today. Guanxi lies at the heart of China's social order, its economic structure, and its changing institutional landscape. It is considered important in most every realm of life, from politics to business, and from officialdom to street life. This volume offers the latest scholarly thinking on the subject by top China sociologists whose work on guanxi has been influential and by new scholars offering cutting-edge insights on the topic.

Making Religion Making the State: The Politics of Religion in Modern China

Papers by David Wank

Local State Takeover as Multiple Rent-Seeking in Private Business

Private Business, Bureaucracy and Political Alliance in a Chinese City

The Rise of Global Studies in East Asia: Institutions and Ideology in National Education Systems

by David Wank and James Farrer

The transdisciplinary field of Global Studies has proven popular and resilient in East Asia, as g... more The transdisciplinary field of Global Studies has proven popular and resilient in East Asia, as graduate and undergraduate programs have expanded throughout the region. Global studies programs at Chinese, Japanese, and Korean universities also reflect national projects that link higher education reform to elite concerns about national economic competitiveness.

Is Global Studies a Field? (1)

Framed by a departmental quest to create a graduate program in Global Studies, Wank posits a rubr... more

Is Global Studies a Field? (2)

Continuing his examination, Wank investigates the case for Global Studies in terms of curriculum ... more

Knife-Shaved Noodles go Global: Provincial Culinary Politics and the Improbable Rise of a Minor Chinese Cuisine

Chinese Immigrants and Japanese Cuisine in the United States: A Case of Culinary Globalization

by David Wank and James Farrer

Culinary Nostalgia and Chinese Neo-Liberalism: Local Dish Restaurants in Shanxi Province

In the mid-1990s a local dish 地方菜 boom emerged in China's restaurant industry. Restaurants rangin... more In the mid-1990s a local dish 地方菜 boom emerged in China's restaurant industry. Restaurants ranging from family-style to luxury establishments started serving local dishes that are self-consciously represented as the foods eaten by the common people of a specific locale in China. Their menus feature coarse grains and wild greens while their décor evokes the culture and history of a locale. The focus of this essay is this " culinary nostalgia " in local food restaurants in Shanxi province, the heartland of Chinese civilization. Drawing on fieldwork the essay illustrates how the consumption of culinary nostalgia constructs a personhood of individuated differences—a Chinese-style multiculturalism—in the emerging national markets, while its production overlaps with the field of state power. Therefore, the culinary nostalgia of local dish restaurants embodies the disjuncture of market and state in China's neo-liberal reform policies that have been transforming the economy since the 1990s.

Making Religion, Making the State in Modern China: An Introductory Essay

Institutionalizing Modern "Religion" in China's Buddhism: Political Phases of a Local Revival

The Globalization of Chinese Buddhism: Clergy and Devotee Networks in the Twentieth Century

The Politics of a Reviving Buddhist Temple: State, Association, and Religion in Southeast China

仏教復興の政治学：競合する機構と正当性 (The politics of the Buddhist revival in China: competing institutions and legitimacy).

Political Sociology and Contemporary China: State-society Images in American China Studies

香烟弥漫生意场：市场转型中的制度变迁

通过对名牌香烟消费的论述，表明这些奢侈品仍然是精英集团用来显示和控制与他人关系的标志。即它们是一种社会仪式的核心。在这一仪式中，企业家设计传递了复杂的社会信息，不管是政府官员洽谈生意还是在下属面... more 通过对名牌香烟消费的论述，表明这些奢侈品仍然是精英集团用来显示和控制与他人关系的标志。即它们是一种社会仪式的核心。在这一仪式中，企业家设计传递了复杂的社会信息，不管是政府官员洽谈生意还是在下属面前显示权力，都能够派上用场

Bureaucratic patronage and private business: changing networks of power in urban China

關於市場過度理論的討論（A discussion of market transition theory))

グローバル社会のダイナミズム―理論と展望 (The Dynamism of Global Society; Theories and Prospects)

カネ、モノ、ヒト、そして情報が「地球」を駆けめぐる!そのとき「地域」はどうなる?見えなかった「グローバル化」の「筋書き」が、ここに明らかに。

Social Connections in China: Institutions, Culture, and the Changing Nature of Guanxi

Guanxi, loosely translated as "social connections," or "social networks," is among the most impor... more Guanxi, loosely translated as "social connections," or "social networks," is among the most important, talked about, and studied phenomena in China today. Guanxi lies at the heart of China's social order, its economic structure, and its changing institutional landscape. It is considered important in most every realm of life, from politics to business, and from officialdom to street life. This volume offers the latest scholarly thinking on the subject by top China sociologists whose work on guanxi has been influential and by new scholars offering cutting-edge insights on the topic.

Making Religion Making the State: The Politics of Religion in Modern China

Local State Takeover as Multiple Rent-Seeking in Private Business

Private Business, Bureaucracy and Political Alliance in a Chinese City

The Rise of Global Studies in East Asia: Institutions and Ideology in National Education Systems

by David Wank and James Farrer

The transdisciplinary field of Global Studies has proven popular and resilient in East Asia, as g... more The transdisciplinary field of Global Studies has proven popular and resilient in East Asia, as graduate and undergraduate programs have expanded throughout the region. Global studies programs at Chinese, Japanese, and Korean universities also reflect national projects that link higher education reform to elite concerns about national economic competitiveness.

Is Global Studies a Field? (1)

Framed by a departmental quest to create a graduate program in Global Studies, Wank posits a rubr... more

Is Global Studies a Field? (2)

Continuing his examination, Wank investigates the case for Global Studies in terms of curriculum ... more

Knife-Shaved Noodles go Global: Provincial Culinary Politics and the Improbable Rise of a Minor Chinese Cuisine

Chinese Immigrants and Japanese Cuisine in the United States: A Case of Culinary Globalization

by David Wank and James Farrer

Culinary Nostalgia and Chinese Neo-Liberalism: Local Dish Restaurants in Shanxi Province

In the mid-1990s a local dish 地方菜 boom emerged in China's restaurant industry. Restaurants rangin... more In the mid-1990s a local dish 地方菜 boom emerged in China's restaurant industry. Restaurants ranging from family-style to luxury establishments started serving local dishes that are self-consciously represented as the foods eaten by the common people of a specific locale in China. Their menus feature coarse grains and wild greens while their décor evokes the culture and history of a locale. The focus of this essay is this " culinary nostalgia " in local food restaurants in Shanxi province, the heartland of Chinese civilization. Drawing on fieldwork the essay illustrates how the consumption of culinary nostalgia constructs a personhood of individuated differences—a Chinese-style multiculturalism—in the emerging national markets, while its production overlaps with the field of state power. Therefore, the culinary nostalgia of local dish restaurants embodies the disjuncture of market and state in China's neo-liberal reform policies that have been transforming the economy since the 1990s.

Making Religion, Making the State in Modern China: An Introductory Essay

Institutionalizing Modern "Religion" in China's Buddhism: Political Phases of a Local Revival

The Globalization of Chinese Buddhism: Clergy and Devotee Networks in the Twentieth Century

The Politics of a Reviving Buddhist Temple: State, Association, and Religion in Southeast China

仏教復興の政治学：競合する機構と正当性 (The politics of the Buddhist revival in China: competing institutions and legitimacy).

Political Sociology and Contemporary China: State-society Images in American China Studies

香烟弥漫生意场：市场转型中的制度变迁

通过对名牌香烟消费的论述，表明这些奢侈品仍然是精英集团用来显示和控制与他人关系的标志。即它们是一种社会仪式的核心。在这一仪式中，企业家设计传递了复杂的社会信息，不管是政府官员洽谈生意还是在下属面... more 通过对名牌香烟消费的论述，表明这些奢侈品仍然是精英集团用来显示和控制与他人关系的标志。即它们是一种社会仪式的核心。在这一仪式中，企业家设计传递了复杂的社会信息，不管是政府官员洽谈生意还是在下属面前显示权力，都能够派上用场

Bureaucratic patronage and private business: changing networks of power in urban China

關於市場過度理論的討論（A discussion of market transition theory))

The Institutional Process of Market Clientelism: Guanxi and Private Business in a South China City

Cigarettes and Domination in Chinese Business Networks: Institutional Change in Market Transition

The Embeddedness of Corruption in Contemporary China: The Bo Xilai and Lai Changxing Cases

More Than Just a Hot Bath: A Sento (Public Bathhouse) Owner's Strategy for Business Survival

by David Wank and Kiyomi Oshima-Molin

Making the New as Old: The Edo Spirit of a Senbei Shop in Downtown Tokyo

Charisma in a High-Class Hair Salon in Omotesando: Communication to Satisfy Female Customers

Men as Money: Ethnography of a Cabaret Girl キャバ嬢

Illusion of Harmony: Managing Relationships in a Senior Citizen Gateball Team

Between Customer and Store: Microculture of a Saleswoman at a Consumer Electronics Store in Shinjuku

by David Wank and Chihiro Aoyagi

SOC 312 class assignment

The Trading Crowd: An Ethnography of the Shanghai Stock Market:The Trading Crowd: An Ethnography of the Shanghai Stock Market

American Anthropologist, 2000

China's New Business Elite: The Political Consequences of Economic Reform

The American Political Science Review, 2000

Economic reform in China have Led to the creation of an entirely new social class: the business e... more

Buddhism in Taiwan: Religion and the State, 1660–1990. By Charles Brewer Jones. [Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1999]

The China Quarterly, 2000

Buddhism in Taiwan is the first work in a Western language to examine the institu-tional and poli... more

The Chinese Diaspora and Mainland China: An Emerging Economic Synergy. By Constance Lever-Tracy, David Ip and Noel Tracy. [London: Macmillan, 1996]

The China Quarterly, 1998

... The Chinese diaspora and mainland China: An emerging economic synergy. Post a Comment. CONTRI... more

Global/Local: Cultural Production and the Transnational Imaginary

China Review International, 1999

Policing Shanghai 1927-1937, by Frederic Wakeman

Contemporary Sociology, 1996

... of political choices for policing 163 10 Making Choices 165 11 The Impact of the Japanese on ... more

Creating Market Socialism: How Ordinary People are Shaping Class and Status in China (Becky Hsu)

This book is a sociological study of how urban residents in China make sense of the rapid changes... more This book is a sociological study of how urban residents in China make sense of the rapid changes they are experiencing in their economic circumstances in the transition from a socialist welfare state to market economy. Analysis focuses on the discourse of suzhi, which translates as " quality " of persons. first introduced by the state in the 1980s as a eugenic rationale for its draconian birth control policies as uplifting the quality of the population. Carolyn L. Hsu argues that it was subsequently appropriated by the populace and reworked to articulate a new status hierarchy in the market economy that sees education and human capital as a marker of a person's quality. This hierarchy reflects values that enable people to make decisions regarding education, employment, marriage, and so on, in the market economy. The book's main data is the words of urban residents from the northern city of Harbin obtained through ethnographic interviewing. Hsu traces various strands in Chinese history that constitute this popular rhetoric of suzhi discourse: these include the imperial valuation of the educated official, socialist era valuation of the public-spirited cadre, and desirability of state enterprise welfare benefits. These values are expressed in stories and jokes about corrupt cadres and successful individuals that circulate among the urban population. By this retelling people construct a collective narrative of suzhi status that leads to marked uniformity among their individual preferences: lower-paid state sector jobs over high income private sector jobs; marriage partners with higher educational credentials rather than higher incomes; respect for intellectuals above businesspersons because of their perceived greater contribution to the public good. Interestingly these preferences do not reflect the criteria of income, which one might expect in the market economy. Hsu takes these counterintuitive (by market logic) preferences as evidence that suzhi is not a neo-liberal discourse of governmentality by elites to condition people for the market economy by emphasizing individuated human capital and economic rewards, as argued by some scholars. Instead she maintains that it is an act of popular agency by people to comprehend marketization in light of their previous experiences and understandings. The insights into the social group of private entrepreneurs are especially intriguing. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, their status was low despite their high incomes, while public unit employees were valorized for their higher educational credentials despite having much lower incomes. Business people were referred to as getihu – self-employed business family-a term that connotes low suzhi. This situation changed after 2000 with appearance of a new term of rushang-scholar-entrepreneurs-who were university graduates running high technology firms. This link of entrepreneurship with high educational credentials merged the suzhi value that intellectuals serve the public good with the market value of income, thereby elevating the status of business persons. (This situation appears to have parallels to the old/new wealth distinction in other capitalist economies, although Hsu does not explore this). Hsu goes on to argue that this rising status of business persons also reflects the changing composition of the business social group. The getihu of the 1990s were disproportionately middle-aged woman who had