TTLV: Symmetry and asymmetry of helping relationships in Vietnamese social capital

INFORMATION ABOUT DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name of the researcher:Cao Thi Hai Bac 

2. Gender: Female

3. Date of birth: June 14, 1986

4. Place of birth: Bac Ninh

5. Decision on recognition of PhD students No. 2436/2012/QD-XHNV-SDH, dated November 8, 2012 of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

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

7. Official thesis topic proposed for defense at state level:Symmetry and asymmetry of helping relationships in Vietnamese social capital.

8. Major: Sociology Code: 62.31.03.01

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

10. Summary of new results of the thesis:

- The thesis has pointed out the unique characteristics of reciprocity in the helping relationship of Vietnamese people. That is symmetry and asymmetry. In general, the helping relationship of Vietnamese people is not completely asymmetrical. In some types and circumstances of helping, there is a clear difference in the helping relationship between parents and children or between friends in rural and urban areas.

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

+ Help relationships within the family often tend to be asymmetrical, whereas help relationships between close friends often tend to be more symmetrical.

+ Whether it is a helping relationship within the family or between close friends, it is governed by both factors including family ethical standards, social ethics and the principle of calculating costs and benefits. However, helping relationships within the family are more strongly governed by standards and ethics. On the contrary, helping relationships between friends, especially less close friends, are more strongly governed by the principle of calculating costs and benefits. However, in terms of the nature of helping relationships, individuals expect to receive help from the other party and this help does not necessarily have to be material but only spiritual such as satisfaction, happiness, etc.

- The closer the friends, the more asymmetrical the mutual help relationship. Conversely, the less close the friends, the more symmetrical the mutual help relationship.

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

- In general, Vietnamese people tend to have an asymmetrical relationship in intergenerational help. The closer the generations are, the more types of help they provide each other than the more distant generations. Besides, through many generations, the general give-and-take trend of Vietnamese people is still in one direction, that is, parents provide their children with more types of help than children can provide back to their parents. However, there is always an asymmetrical relationship between parents and children in the opposite direction to the general trend or a symmetrical relationship in this relationship.

- In general, 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 second son.

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

- Understanding the symmetrical and asymmetrical characteristics that often occur in what type of relationship, in what type of help and in what circumstances of help will help build policies and develop social relationships correctly and appropriately.

11. Practical application:

Contribute to consulting on policies for building and developing social relations in Vietnam.

12. Further research directions:

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

13. Published works related to the thesis:

1) Nguyen Quy Thanh, Cao Thi Hai Bac (2012), "Social relations and social capital: Comparing Vietnam and 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 Vietnamese social networks 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.