Contingent Indigenous Social Networks and the Lock-in of Rural Cluster Industries Development:A Case Study of the"Agricultural Trade Model"of Seaweed Industry in Baisha Village,Fujian Province
Rural industrial agglomeration is a socio-economic form spontaneously formed by smallholder farmers in the process of connecting with large markets,and it serves as an important foundation for the development of rural characteristic industries.This paper employs a single-case study method to analyze the sow-end operational pattern of the seaweed industry in Baisha Village,Fujian Province,with farmers'agricultural trade markets as the main sales channel,and explores the relationship between local social networks and the lock-in of rural industrial agglomeration development.Under the high overlap between the industrial space and village space,the rural society gives rise to a contingent rural social network characterized by transitional forms,which is distinct from open and closed network structures.First,this social network connects with the market on one end while being rooted in the village on the other,starting from the unique household rationality,and continuing to anchor the initial industrial development direction of the agricultural trade model based on the balance of security logic and profit logic among farmers.Second,the transformation of the relationship between strong and weak ties in the rural social network reduces the operating costs of the agricultural trade model,thereby reinforcing its operational pathways.Third,the network connections based on geographical agglomeration and personal relationships provide information flow,a stable and controllable cluster environment,and the legitimization of opinions that exclude innovation for this model.The contingently generated rural social network,formed naturally under the impact of the market economy,maintains the low-level lock-in state of rural industrial agglomeration in an all-encompassing manner.Therefore,promoting the transformation and upgrading of rural industries from agglomeration to clustering fundamentally relies on optimizing the rural social network,including supporting entrepreneurial operators and facilitating organized cooperation.
Rural Social NetworksRural Industrial AgglomerationAgricultural Trade MarketDevelopment Lock-in
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