Show, Don’t Tell and Try Me if You Dare! The Body’s Authoritative Force in Traditional Chinese Martial Arts Organizations

In the digital era, algorithms and data systems have profoundly reshaped social relations in China, transforming traditional structures into fluid, dynamic networks. Drawing on Fei Xiaotong's "differential mode of association," which views Chinese society as ego-centered with graded ties, and Zygmunt Bauman's "liquid modernity," emphasizing transient and unbound interactions, this study introduces the concept of a "reversible liquid differential order." This framework captures how social ties form, dissolve, and reconfigure rapidly in digital contexts, particularly on platforms like Xiaohongshu, a social e-commerce app targeting young women. The research explores modular and elastic social relations on Xiaohongshu through a qualitative case study. Data were collected from 20 public notes and approximately 50 related comments under the #LifeSharing tag in 2025, selected for high interaction levels and relevance to relational dynamics. Thematic analysis was employed to code patterns, identifying themes such as temporary connections, algorithm-driven intimacy gradients, and guanxi culture. Findings revealed that Xiaohongshu's algorithms curate personalized content, fostering ephemeral ties through notes, comments, and recommendations, while users adapt with resilience. The study concluded that this reversible order integrates cultural specificity with algorithmic elasticity, enhancing user well-being but also amplifying social anxiety. Theoretically, it advances network analysis for quantifying cultural patterns; practically, it informs platform designs to mitigate relational uncertainties in digital China.

China’s best-known sociologist, Fei Xiaotong, is widely credited with providing a general statement of guanxi relations underlying Chinese society. Examination of Fei’s celebrated From the Soil and associated publications, as well as the work of contemporary researchers, reveals Fei’s neglected Confucianism and the derivative nature of his conceptualization of “the differential mode of association.” Additionally, limitations of village-centric perspectives and the importance of nonkin relations in rural society are identified and erstwhile neglected aspects of guanxi highlighted. The article contributes to the study of guanxi and Chinese society in general by developing a sociological account of the variety and nature of social connections.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to apply Chester Barnard's ideas about authority in organizations to the modern phenomenon of “whistle‐blowing” and highlight insights that can advance contemporary theory in business ethics. The paper coins a new term “the whistle‐blowing zone,” and uses it as a way to capitalize on Barnard's insights and to offer a conceptual framework that can help business ethics scholars explain the phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachBy comparing and contrasting Barnard's ideas with contemporary research, the authors argue that he provides a number of insights that can advance modern business ethical theory and research. Implications about the origin and mechanism of whistle‐blowing are discussed.FindingsFirst, it is found that Barnard's theory of authority, specifically the notion of a “zone of indifference” is applicable to the modern phenomenon of whistle‐blowing. Second, the paper coins a new term “the whistle‐blowing zone,” to explain why and how whistle‐blowing occurs. Finally, the paper develops a conceptual framework to capitalize on Barnard's insight to explain the phenomenon of “whistle‐blowing.”Originality/valueThis paper is the first paper to examine Barnard's writings in the context of the modern business issue of whistle‐blowing. It is believed that the study of business ethics can be enhanced by applying Barnard's work. His concept of authority in formal organizations actually provides the theoretical foundation to examine and understand the phenomenon of whistle‐blowing in ways that have not appeared in the literature to date.

From the origins of Muhammad's prophetic movement through the development of Islam's principal branches to the establishment of the Umayyad dynasty, the concept of authority has been central to Islamic civilization. By examining the nature, organization, and transformation of authority over time, Dabashi conveys both continuities and disruptions inherent in the development of a new political culture. It is this process, he argues, that accounts for the fundamental patterns of authority in Islam that ultimately shaped, in dialectical interaction with external historical factors, the course of Islamic civilization. The book begins by examining the principal characteristics of authority in pre-Islamic Arab society. Dabashi describes the imposition of the Muhammadan charismatic movement on pre-Islamic Arab culture, tracing the changes it introduced in the fabric of pre-Islamic Arabia. He examines the continuities and changes that followed, focusing on the concept of authority, and the formation of the Sunnite, Shiite, and Karajite branches of Islam as political expressions of deep cultural cleavages. For Dabashi, the formation of these branches was the inevitable outcome of the clash between pre-Islamic patterns of authority and those of the Muhammadan charismatic movement. In turn, they molded both the unity and the diversity of the emerging Islamic culture. Authority in Islam explains how this came to be. Dabashi employs Weber's concept of charismatic authority in describing Muhammad and his mode of authority as both a model and a point of departure. His purpose is not to offer critical verification or opposition to interpretation of historical events, but to suggest a new approach to the existing literature. The book is an important contribution to political sociology as well as the study of Islamic culture and civilization. Sociologists, political scientists, and Middle Eastern specialists will find this analysis of particular value.

The proliferation of smartphones and social media has intensified debates about authenticity in contemporary pilgrimage, with critics arguing that digital connectivity undermines the spiritual depth of sacred journeys. This article explores how pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago negotiate this tension, asking whether digital mediation necessarily diminishes authentic experience. Through ethnographic fieldwork in Santiago de Compostela, semi-structured interviews with 20 pilgrims, and digital ethnography of online forums and social media platforms, the study identifies four interconnected ‘digital authentication strategies’: temporal regulations (when to connect/disconnect), spatial restrictions (where technology is appropriate), social negotiations (group norms), and narrative curation (selective digital storytelling). Rather than abandoning technology or experiencing diminished authenticity, pilgrims develop reflexive practices that integrate physical and digital dimensions while maintaining subjective experiences of spiritual legitimacy. These findings challenge classical anthropological models positioning pilgrimage as total separation from everyday life. Instead, contemporary pilgrims inhabit ‘connected liminality’—a digitally mediated liminal state where transformation occurs amid continuous connectivity, and where authenticity emerges through attentional discipline rather than technological absence. Digital mediation thus operates not as contamination but as transformation, creating hybrid ritual forms that reflect broader shifts in late modern religiosity.

Although a substantial amount of research explores how work units collectively benefit from authority figures who adhere to the rules of justice (i.e., justice climate), virtually no research explores how authority figures themselves benefit from creating a climate of fairness. We draw from relational theories of human behaviour and psychological well‐being to develop a theoretical model of the relationship between justice climate and authority figures' well‐being. Using data from a sample of 1297 employees and 162 authority figures within 162 work units, we find that procedural justice (PJ) and interactional justice (IJ) climate relate to authority figures' occupational satisfaction and emotional exhaustion; IJ climate also relates to positive affect. In addition, in line with an agent‐related justice perspective, IJ climate has a stronger overall impact than PJ climate on authority figures' well‐being.Practitioner points Finding individuals who want to be organizational authority figures is difficult if there are perceived psychological costs associated with being an authority figure. The reported research suggests organizations may want to highlight the positive relationship between adherence to rules of justice and the psychological well‐being of authority figures as a potential benefit of assuming authority positions. Whereas traditional approaches to job design suggest the redesign of significant portions of the job (which is not always practical), our results suggest large‐scale changes may not be the only method for enhancing the positive feelings authority figures have about their job. Organizations could instead emphasize the positive impact that authority figures have on the work group as a whole. Given that working closely with the beneficiaries of one's efforts is intrinsically gratifying, such an emphasis might be enough to help create a more healthy and enjoyable environment for organizational authority figures. Managers should pay particular attention to the interpersonal interactions they have with their employees. Our results suggest it is the interpersonal component of justice climate, as compared to the more process‐ or policy‐oriented components, that is the most beneficial to organizational authority figures.

The article is dedicated to exploring the Chinese business model of guanxi marketing. Relationship marketing and the Chinese guanxi marketing model manifest in social network structures, resource regulation, and dynamics, making them interconnected but with limited compatibility. This article provides a systematic exposition of the guanxi concept and introduces the theory of «differential mode of association» (chaxugeju) proposed by Chinese sociologist Fei Xiaotong and the major schools of research on guanxi marketing. Comparisons are also made between Western and Chinese approaches to relationship marketing and guanxi marketing. For foreign entrepreneurs and marketers aiming to

This entry reviews the life of Fei Xiaotong and introduces two of his most important academic contributions. Fei was a Chinese scholar who was highly regarded by Western academics for his analysis of the economy and society in rural China. He was also a statesman who used his knowledge to promote development in China's village areas. Among his academic contributions, two of the most influential ones are the concept of the “differential mode of association,” describing Chinese social structure, and his Tanner lecture “Plurality and Unity in the Configuration of the Chinese People,” which focused on nationality and ethnic groups on the path to creating a unified China.

Postmodern and poststructural approaches to organizational communication are marked by an emphasis on ruptures, disjunctions, tensions, instabilities, and other inconsistencies as a part of everyday organizational life. This entry introduces postmodern and poststructural theory broadly before addressing three ways that these bodies of theory have been incorporated into organizational communication research: complicating narratives, reconceptualizing power and identity, and the communicative constitution of organization. The entry concludes with a list of seven characteristics that help to identify postmodern and poststructural analyses of organizations.

Space (measurable, objective) and place (meaningful space) are foundational elements of all organizations and organizing. However, extant literature on organizational space has focused on material space as a container for organizations or socially constructed places within organizations. Such an understanding contrasts research from critical geography that has demonstrated the centrality of space to all social life. Using geography and a constitutive approach to organizing, I propose that space and place be understood as both constitutive of, and constituted by, organizational communication. I conclude by proposing several areas for organizational communication research on space and general communication research.

Just Doing Business: Modern Racism and Obedience to Authority as Explanations for Employment Discrimination

Art empowers to see artists, art, and society as assets that encourage critical thinking, feeling, and rereading the problems. Artists, art, and society are art assets that have not been understood as important aspects that are interrelated, especially in traditional art organizations. This paper seeks to strengthen art assets as a way to obtain holistic and sustainable art management in traditional art organizations. Data were collected using in-depth observations of the management of art assets in the studio. In-depth interviews were conducted to collect primary data from sources who understand both in terms of knowledge and are actors in the art space. In addition, the data was confirmed and strengthened using previous studies. The results show that there is an art studio institution in the form of an art studio that presents art activities in the form of training, creation of works of art, and performances of traditional art. In addition, in this traditional art institution there is active public (community) involvement in the art space.

This paper will take the integration of traditional Chinese martial arts culture into Chinese language teaching as the research object. This paper takes the integration of traditional Chinese martial arts culture into Chinese language teaching as the object of research, uses the literature collection method to sort out and analyze domestic and international studies on the integration of traditional Chinese martial arts into Chinese language teaching, and explores the importance and feasibility of integrating traditional Chinese martial arts culture into Chinese language classroom teaching from the perspective of the world's understanding of traditional Chinese martial arts in the future with a view to broadening the ways of dissemination of traditional Chinese martial arts culture internationally and discussing the feasibility of integrating traditional Chinese martial arts culture into Chinese language classroom education in the future. In order to broaden the dissemination channels of Chinese traditional martial arts culture in the international arena, we explore the feasibility of integrating Chinese traditional martial arts culture into Chinese language classrooms for foreigners in the future.

This chapter focuses on two constitutive dimensions of any organization: the epistemic and the deontic authority (i.e. who, in a given circumstance, is or should be (recognized as) the one who knows and the one who decides) and makes a case for their being at the same time presupposed and constituted by participants in and through interaction. As we will show by means of an empirical illustration, members display their orientation to these dimensions of organizational authority and talk them into being by locally (re)creating “who knows best and who decides what to do”. At least from the analyst’s point of view, agency and structure appear to permeate each other. Indeed, by analyzing the perspicuous case of the management of epistemic and deontic authority, we contend and show that the core notion of CCO theory, literally, the communicative constitution of organization, does not necessarily mirror the members’ “natural attitude” on their own communicative practices. Rather it appears to be an experience-distant, second-order construct significantly detached from members’ understandings and accounts of their everyday organizational life-world.

Organizational researchers have attacked the rational, or bureaucratic, model of organizations and have sought to replace it with a number of different perspectives that stress informal influence, political processes, situational negotiations, or random interaction. Yet one key test that bears on the applicability of the rational model has not been systematically or thoroughly, performed: an analysis of the extent to which formal authority, in comparison to various nonformal factors, constrains actual behavior. The current study focuses on one key characteristic of the rational model; namely, organizational decision-making. Regression analysis is used to weigh the relative effect on participation in decisions of formal hierarchical authority and general nonformal power bases. Limited support is given to one aspect of the rational model, though not to the exclusion of other models. Renewed research effort, using a variety of techniques, is called upon to fully investigate the role of formal authority in organi zations.