The structure of restrictions: a "dual-domination" over the customers in the Chinese housing market

Abstract

The research tries to explore the restraints imposed on customers in the contemporary Chinese housing market from the perspective of the customers. It adopts "power" as the core concept, uses the method of content analysis, and consults primarily theories of Max Weber, James Coleman, and Pierre Bourdieu. The research uses news reports as data to present the exercise of power on the customers by the Chinese state, and uses texts of housing advertisements as data to present the latent power the Chinese real-estate developers deploys to profit from trades with customers. Put together, the customers suffer from a "dual-domination" from the state and the developers in the contemporary Chinese housing market.