UNIVERSITY OF MILAN Graduate School of Social and Political Sciences (GSSPS) Doctoral Thesis in Economic Sociology and Labor Studies THESIS DISSERTATION Ethos at Stake: Roads to Success among Chinese Small Businesses in Milan, Italy Supervisor: Prof. Gabriele Ballarino Co-supervisor: Prof. Diego Coletto Phd Candidate: Ottavio PALOMBARO Matriculation n. R10424 – R37 A.Y. 2016 / 2017 2 S. D. G. 3 4 INDEX: INDEX OF TABLES » p. 7 ABSTRACT » p. 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS » p. 10 INTRODUCTION » p. 11 PART ONE I. ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ECONOMIC SUCCESS…………………..p. 23 1. 1 Sociological Theories on Entrepreneurship and Economic Success » p. 23 1.1.1 Classical Contributions to the Topic p. 23 1.1.2 The Role of Personality, Culture and Networks p. 25 1. 2 The Place of Values in the Picture » p. 29 1.2.1 What if Something is Missing? p. 29 1.2.2 One Example Pointing toward This Direction p. 31 II. PROTESTANTISM AND ECONOMIC SUCCESS……………………….p. 33 2. 1 Weber’s Thesis on the Protestant Ethic » p. 33 2.1.1 The Critics and Their Fallacies p. 33 2. 2 The Reality of Calvinism » p. 46 2.2.1 Predestination contra Anxiety p. 46 2.2.2 Assurance of Salvation as the Logic Alternative and other Preconditions p. 48 III. ACTUALIZATION OF THE PROTESTANT ETHIC……………...........p. 55 3.1 The Puritan Ethic in America » p. 55 3.1.1 Evolution and Actualization of the Matter p. 55 3.1.2 The ‘Americanization’ of Protestantism p. 57 3.1.3 Consequences on the System of Beliefs p. 67 3.2 China and Its Spirit of Capitalism » p. 75 3.2.1 Protestant Revival and the Economic Boom p. 75 3.2.2 The Case of Wenzhou: the Jews of China’s Jerusalem p. 79 PART TWO IV. METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH………………………………....p. 87 4.1 Discussion on the Method » p. 87 4.1.1 Prolegomena p. 87 4.2 History of the Research » p. 92 4.2.1 Connecting the Dots p. 92 4.2.2 Recapitulation of the Steps of Entrance into the Field p. 96 4.2.3 Sample, Techniques and Focus p. 98 4.2.4 The second Phase of Case-Control p. 107 V. CHINESE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MILAN …………………………..p. 112 5.1 The Social life of Chinese Migrants in Milan » p. 112 5.1.1 A Particularly Productive Presence p. 112 5.2 Chinese Entrepreneurs in Milan » p. 116 5 5.2.1 Chinese Small Businesses in Milan and their Ideal-types p. 116 5.2.2 The Visionary Investor p. 122 5.2.3 The Autonomous Buyer p. 137 5.2.4 The Organized Jeweler p. 145 5.2.5 The Apprentice Salesman p. 150 5.2.6 The Creative Barman p. 155 5.2.7 The Italian-friendly Chinese Boss p. 160 5.2.8 A Process of Financial Network p. 163 PART THREE VI. THE CASE FOR A PROTESTANT CHINESE WORK ETHIC.………..p. 171 6.1 The role of Chinese Protestant Beliefs in Business » p. 171 6.1.1 Introduction to the two Sets of Interviews p. 171 6.1.2 The Assistants to the Preconditions in the Field p. 174 6.1.3 Chinese ‘Calling’ to Work p. 177 6.1.4 The Boss-Christian Phenomenon p. 180 6.1.5 The Role of the House Churches in Business p. 189 6.1.6 Work, Purpose and Meaning p. 203 6.1.7 The role of Assurance in Business p. 205 6.1.8 Behind the Scene p. 213 6.2 Further Confirmations from a Visit to Wenzhou » p. 219 6.2.1 Similar Propensity on a Larger Scale p. 219 VII. THE COUNTERPART FOR A PURELY CHINESE WORK ETHIC….p. 226 7.1 The other Side of the non-Christian Chinese Entrepreneurship » p. 226 7.1.1 Inheritance of Materialism p. 226 7.1.2 The Power of the Chinese Network p. 234 7.1.3 Cultural Basis for the Exaltation of Work p. 240 7.2 The Chinese Common Denominator » p. 248 7.2.1 Direct Causality vs. Justification Logic p. 248 7.2.2 Brief Excursus on a Non-Chinese Entrepreneur p. 253 CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………………………. p. 257 APPENDIX…………………………………………………………..................... p. 269 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………........................p. 289 WEB SOURCES…………………………………………………………………. p. 302 CASE REPORT………………………………………………………………….p. 303 6 Index of Tables: Table 1 — Relationship between Protestant beliefs and economic ethos according to Max Weber theory. » p. 39 Table 2 — Critical Approaches to Weber’s thesis on Protestant ethic and the genesis of the spirit of capitalism. » p. 45 Table 3 — Dynamics of the relationship between the Protestant beliefs and the economic ethos according to the theoretical argument. » p. 53 Table 4 — Timeline that summarize the evolution of the spirit of capitalism according to the analysis. » p. 66 Table 5 — Evolution of Protestantism in United States and their contribution to the American capitalist spirit. » p. 73 Table 6 — Dynamics of the relationship between the Chinese Protestant entrepreneurs beliefs and the economic ethos according to the theoretical argument in its empirical application. » p. 93 Table 7 — Scheme of the typical biographical journey of the Protestant believer. » p. 100 Table 8 — Part of the interview chart that refers to the beliefs that I wanted to measure among the Chinese Christian entrepreneurs. » p. 101 Table 9 — Part of the questionnaire that I submitted to respondents in order to test the presence of self-efficacy. » p. 103 Table 10 — Different options of outcomes related to the theoretical argument and sample composition for gender, age and religion. » p. 106 Table 11 — Part of the interview chart that refers to the explanations that I want to check among the Chinese non-Christian entrepreneurs. » p. 109 Table 12 — Evaluation chart for the first three Chinese entrepreneurs under shadowing. » p. 122 Table 13 — Evaluation chart for the second group of Chinese entrepreneurs under shadowing. » p. 150 Table 14 — Illustration of the role of network in business among Chinese entrepreneurs under job-shadowing. In red the family, green the house church and blue external connections. Lastly the typical financial circuit behind business multiplication through network in the China town according to Ah Cy. » p. 167-168 Table 15 — List of the Christian entrepreneurs under investigation. The ones with the grey line were part of the job-shadowing activity and Mario is the Italian outsider. » p. 172-174 Table 16 — Peculiar organizational structure of the Chinese evangelical church under my ethnographic investigation. » p. 200 Table 17 — Results from the questionnaire on the presence of self-efficacy for both first and second group. It is possible to see a higher presence of self-efficacy among the first group particularly from the area of Wenzhou. It becomes more than double considering the belief in PAS. Regardless of the belief however self-efficacy tends to be prominent among young male small business owners. » p. 218 Table 18 — List of the non-Christian entrepreneurs under investigation. The ones with the grey line were part of the job-shadowing activity. » p. 226-227 Table 19 — Comparison between the list of religious values corresponding to Confucianism and Protestantism. In grey are the areas of overlapping between the two systems of beliefs. The list has no intention to be exhaustive but it points out the connections between the two sets of beliefs and business according to the main features of the model. » p. 244 Table 20 — Synthetic table representing the dynamics of the model for the case of Wenzhou in light of the results from ethnographic observations and the interviews. » p. 261 7 8 Dr. Ottavio Palombaro Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milano – Statale Abstract: Certain values are at stake for the success of economic behavior. Since the genesis of modern capitalism a set of beliefs proper of Calvinism (mainly Predestination but also Beruf, Inner- worldly Asceticism, role of Sects…) was said by Max Weber to cause an anxiety about salvation and generate a propensity to economic success as a sign of election. I argue on the contrary that the Calvinist belief in the Perpetual Assurance of Salvation might cause a sense of self-efficacy able to favor economic success. In order to observe this in action today it is crucial to consider the evolution that the Protestant ethic went through migrating first in north America and lastly through the Protestant revival of China. Wenzhou is called ‘Jerusalem of China’ for its large Protestant community that is also strongly involved in business. Some scholar already pointed out the presence among those entrepreneurs of this Protestant ethic (Yi Xiang, Boss-Christian…). The data presented in this comparative qualitative study pertain to ethnographic observations, job- shadowing and interviews done among Chinese Christian and non-Christian entrepreneurs from Wenzhou living in Milan, Italy. The results show with some adjustments the presence of a Chinese- version of the Protestant ethic overlapping with several values proper to the Chinese context (Confucianism, lineage, social network). The extension of the study to other cases must be done with caution considering the non-causal justificatory role of the belief. Regardless: successful entrepreneurship involves specific social, cultural and even religious aspects that move beyond mere business strategies. Keywords: Capitalism – Work Ethic – Weber – China – Entrepreneurship 9 Acknowledgements: My first thanks goes to all the people who took part to this research among the Chinese entrepreneurs and economic players. The contributions contained in this work were not possible without the help of several Scholars and Professors to whom my personal gratitude goes. I thank here for the help, correction and useful directions received from Prof. Gabriele Ballarino during the whole duration of this research. I also want to thank here Prof. Marco Maraffi for his useful comments and encouragement in pursuing this topic with passion and perseverance.