英文摘要 |
This paper argues that auctions are socially constructed rather than simplecommercial events. The main concern of this paper is exploration of the backstageof auctions to reveal social networks between sellers and buyers and toshow that auction markets are embedded in society and culture. An auction is ahigh end art market, which is a commercial performance stage and has highsocial visibility and symbolic meaning. There are lots of economic studies onauction theory regarding calculating the price, art research on artists and worksof art, marketing research on art fashion and trends. All the previous researchregards auctions as numbers and records, but cannot show the actors and socialrelationships in an auction market. From a social embeddedness perspective, thispaper studies art auction markets of China to illustrate that behind the open stageof auctions there are several interrelated communities exchanging informationand money. Newly formed Chinese art auctions convey old social functions. |