TTLV: Symmetry and asymmetry in the social capital of Vietnamese people.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name of the doctoral candidate:Cao Thi Hai Bac 

2. Gender: Female

3. Date of birth: June 14, 1986

4. Place of birth: Bac Ninh

5. Decision No. 2436/2012/QD-XHNV-SDH, dated November 8, 2012, of the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, recognizing the doctoral student.

6. Changes in the training process: Decision No. 60/QD-SDH, dated February 6, 2015, of the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, on adjusting the title of the doctoral dissertation of PhD candidate Cao Thi Hai Bac.

7. Official title of the dissertation proposed for state-level defense:Symmetry and asymmetry in the relationships of mutual assistance within the social capital of the Vietnamese people.

8. Major: Sociology Code: 62.31.03.01

9. Scientific supervisor:Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quy Thanh

10. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:

- The thesis has highlighted the unique characteristics of reciprocity in the Vietnamese relationship of mutual assistance. These include symmetry and asymmetry. Generally, the Vietnamese relationship of mutual assistance is not entirely asymmetrical. In certain types and circumstances of assistance, there are quite clear differences in the relationship between parents and children or between friends in rural and urban areas.

- The thesis applied sociological theories from the perspective of behavioral economics, game theory, and social capital theory to demonstrate:

Family relationships tend to be asymmetrical, whereas relationships between close friends tend to be more symmetrical.

+ Whether it's a family relationship or a close friendship, mutual support is influenced by both family and social moral standards, as well as the principle of cost-benefit analysis. However, family relationships are more strongly influenced by these moral standards. Conversely, friendships, especially those between less close friends, are more strongly influenced by the principle of cost-benefit analysis. Nevertheless, in essence, individuals expect to receive help in return, and this help doesn't necessarily have to be material; it can be spiritual, such as satisfaction or happiness.

- The closer the friendship, the more asymmetrical the mutual support becomes. Conversely, the less close the friendship, the more symmetrical the mutual support becomes.

- Financial assistance is always asymmetrical in family relationships but always symmetrical in friendships.

- In general, Vietnamese people tend to have an asymmetrical approach to intergenerational support. Closer generations provide each other with a greater variety of support than more distant generations. Furthermore, across generations, the general giving-receiving trend in Vietnam remains symmetrical: parents provide more support to their children than children can provide in return. However, there are always cases of asymmetry in the support relationship between parents and children, either in the opposite direction to the general trend or in a symmetrical way.

- Generally speaking, from a gender perspective, Vietnamese people tend to help sons more than daughters, and from a hierarchical perspective, Vietnamese people tend to help the eldest son more than the younger son.

- Personal and family factors have the greatest influence on the symmetry and asymmetry of help relationships within the family, while personal and community/social factors have the greatest influence on the symmetry and asymmetry of help relationships between close friends.

- Understanding the symmetrical and asymmetrical characteristics that commonly occur in different types of relationships, in different forms of assistance, and under what circumstances assistance is provided will help in formulating correct and appropriate policies and developing social relationships.

11. Practical applications:

Contributing to advising on policies for building and developing social relations in Vietnam.

12. Future research directions:

The relationship between social networks and social participation among Vietnamese people.

13. Published works related to the dissertation:

1) Nguyen Quy Thanh, Cao Thi Hai Bac (2012), "Social relations and social capital: A comparison between Vietnam and South Korea",Journal of Sociology(3), pp. 35-45.

2) Nguyen Quy Thanh, Cao Thi Hai Bac (2014), “Social Capital: Symmetric or Asymmetric? The Evidence from Vietnam,Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Science (BICSS 2014)In Bangkok, Thailand, from January 18-20, 2014, pp. 239-251.

3) Nguyen Quy Thanh, Cao Thi Hai Bac (2015), "The principle of similarity: the mechanism of social network formation of Vietnamese people",Journal of Sociology(1), pp. 37-51.

4) Nguyen Quy Thanh, Cao Thi Hai Bac (2015), "Characteristics of the scale of social relationship networks of Vietnamese people and some influencing factors",Journal of Human Studies(2), pp. 35-46.

INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name: Cao Thi Hai Bac 2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: June 14, 1986 4. Place of birth: Bac Ninh

5. Admission decision number: 2436/2012/QD-XHNV-SDH Dated November 8, 2012 by the President of University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Hanoi.

6. Changes in academic process: Decision number 60/QD-SĐH Dated February 6, 2015 by the President of University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Hanoi about renaming the title of thesis of Ph.D. student Cao Thi Hai Bac.

7. Official thesis title: The symmetry and asymmetry of the help in social capital of Vietnamese

8. Major: Sociology Code: 62.31.03.01

9. Supervisors: Assoc. Professor, Doctor Nguyen Quy Thanh

10. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:

- The thesis shows that the individual features of reciprocity of help in social capital of Vietnamese are the symmetry and asymmetry. In general, the help in social capital of Vietnamese is not completely asymmetry. In general, there are no differences between urals and cities, male and female, this age group and the other age groups about the degree of symmetry/asymmetry in quantity of help. However, in some of types of help and some of contexts of help, there are the differences in the help between the parent and the children or two friends in rurals and cities.

- The thesis uses sociological theory approach behavioral economics, game theory, theory of social capital to show the findings:

+ In general, the help in family is mostly asymmetric and the help between two friends is mostly symmetric.

+ Both the help in family and the help between two friends are impacted by two factors: norms of family and society and the principle of cost and reward. However, the help in family is impacted more strongly by the norms of family and society and the help between two friends is impacted more strongly by the principle of cost and reward.

- In general, the parents always provide more help than receive help from the children. However, in some cases, the children are still providing more help than receiving help from the parents.

- In general, in terms of gender, Vietnam people tend to help boys more than girls and in terms of hierarchical standpoint, Vietnam people tend to help the first child more than smaller child.

- The help about money is mostly asymmetric in the help in family but symmetric in the help between two friends.

- The more intimate the relationship is, the more likely the reciprocal help becomes asymmetric and vice versa.

- The individual factors and the family factors have the strongest impact on the symmetry and asymmetry of the help in family and the individual factors and the community/society factors have the strongest impact on the symmetry and asymmetry of the help between two friends.

- Knowing clearly about the specificity of the symmetry and asymmetry of help in social capital of Vietnamese makes building the policies about developing social relationships more accurately and effectively.

11. Practical applicability:

To contribute to give the recommendations for the policies aiming to build and develop the social network in Vietnam.

12. Further research directions:

The relationships between social network and civic participation in Vietnam.

13. Thesis-related publications

1) Nguyen Quy Thanh, Cao Thi Hai Bac (2012), “Social network and social capital: Comparing Vietnam to Korea”,Sociological Magazine(3), pp. 35-45.

2) Nguyen Quy Thanh, Cao Thi Hai Bac (2014), “Social Capital: Symmetric or Asymmetric? The Evidence from Vietnam,in proceedings of International Conference on Social Sciences (BISSS 2014)in Bangkok, Thailand, 18-20 January 2014, pp. 239-251.

3) Nguyen Quy Thanh, Cao Thi Hai Bac (2015), “Homophily principle: the formation mechanism of the social network of Vietnamese”,Sociological Magazine(1), pp. 37-51.

4) Nguyen Quy Thanh, Cao Thi Hai Bac (2015), “The network of social relations of the Vietnamese people: Characteristics and influential factors”,Human Studies Magazine(2), pp. 35-46.