Abstract
The entrance examination system for higher education in China, characterized by its intense pressure, cutthroat competition, and significant stakes, has been marred by various cheating practices. Among these, cheating through corruption stands out as the most serious and intricate form. Despite its gravity and recurrent scandals, limited scholarly attention has been devoted to this specific type of cheating. This thesis addresses this research gap by providing the first empirical investigation into cheating through corruption, focusing on the phenomenon of identity theft in college admission (ITCA) in China. It comprehensively explores not only the ITCA operation but also delves into the experiences of victims in their pursuit of redress.The thesis consists of two studies, guided by the social capital theory and employing an aggregated case study approach. The first study examines the modus operandi and network characteristics of ITCA based on 47 cases of identity theft in college admission. It reveals that rural students were particularly vulnerable to ITCA, which was characterized by a systemic network involving the falsification of identity documents for an often passive impostor who was pressured to comply with traditional family values. Adopting a social capital approach, the study explores the ITCA network’s characteristics, cognitive (in)congruence among co-offenders, and the facilitating roles of trust, obligations, and norms in the operation of ITCA. The findings show that ITCA is the result of a confluence of rural–urban inequality, systemic corruption, and family-centered collectivist values in China.
The second study focuses on ITCA victims’ experience of compensation-claiming. A comparison was made between 20 ITCA victims who requested investigations into the ITCA and 10 ITCA victims who did not take any action to seek redress. The study finds redress-seekers and non-redress-seekers are comparable in terms of socio-economic status and perceived challenges, and what distinguished the two groups is the effective utilization of cognitive social capital. In contrast to the non-redress-seekers, the redress-seekers, through their shared understandings among themselves and their facilitators, brought in resources for their persistent journey of redress-seeking. The findings shed light on the intricate relationship between relational dynamics and the legal mobilization process, particularly within the context of China.
This thesis makes significant theoretical and empirical contributions. It makes three-fold contributions to the development of social capital theory. To begin with, it enhances the explanatory power of social capital theory by applying it to the unexplored social phenomenon of cheating through corruption. It demonstrates how social capital theory, with its three dimensions, can explain the resources that enable deviant networks. It also established a theoretical connection between social capital and the mechanism of legal mobilization, revealing its role across different stages. Second, this thesis highlights the often overlooked cognitive dimension of social capital. By incorporating this dimension, the thesis offers a more relational perspective for analyzing social phenomena, which is particularly important in China’s society where interpersonal connections play a significant role. Third, the thesis contributes to the exploration of the contextual variation of social capital theory. It illustrates how the effects of different dimensions of social capital vary within deviant networks involving authorities and powerless individual victims. This nuanced understanding of the contextual factors influencing social capital’s impact enriches our comprehension of the multidimensional nature of this concept.
Second, it fills knowledge gaps in cheating through corruption in college admissions by conducting a comprehensive study of ITCA. Serving as the first empirical research on this topic, the thesis provides a detailed examination of the ITCA network’s characteristics, clarifies the key steps of ITCA operation, and investigates the social capital resources utilized by imposters and their accomplices. It is also the first study to document and analyze ITCA victims, comparing redress-seekers and non-redress-seekers to identify the key social capital resources that sustain legal mobilization efforts for vulnerable individuals affected by ITCA. These findings underscore the need for academia to pay more attention to cheating through corruption in college admissions, as well as the efforts of its victims in advocating for themselves. It also yields practical implications for both the college admission system and victims of systemic corruption, aiming to inform policy and advocacy in these domains in particular and cheating in the education setting in general.
| Date of Award | 11 Sept 2024 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Yueying Lena ZHONG (Supervisor) |