Scientific Presentations
LabTalks@KinshipInequalities
Research Group: Kinship Inequalities
Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), Rostock, Germany, June 10, 2026
11:00 AM: Talk with Cameron Campbell - Kin Networks and Elite Persistence in 19th Century China
Room 005
Abstract
I present new results on the role of kin networks in the attainment of elite status in 19th century China. These include correlations within kin networks in attainment of examination and purchased degrees, and estimates of the effects of kin network characteristics on the chances of appointment to an official post and subsequent promotion for elite degree holders. Degree holders and holders of official posts were one of the most important elites in China before the 20th century. Though they accounted for only a tiny fraction of the population, they had enormous status and power. Collectively, the results show that many men who had degrees or official positions who appeared to be from modest backgrounds in the sense that their father, grandfather and great-grandfather did not have examination or purchased degrees or official posts had other senior patrilineal kin like uncles who had high status, as well as other patrilineal kin of the same generation like male cousins who were high status. The implication is that in 19th century China, looking only at father-son associations or grandfather-father-son associations give an incomplete picture of turnover from one generation to the next among elites, and that there was more persistence in the status of lineages that might be expected from traditional examinations of direct patrilineal ancestors. While such results are not unexpected given the qualitative and ethnographic evidence on the importance of lineages for access to education and other sources in China before the 20th century, and quantitative findings from other countries on the importance of kin networks to status attainment, these new results provide a clearer picture. They allow for comparisons across different social groups, including holders of different types of degrees, and elites in different regions. They will also allow for international comparisons in elite persistence. For the analysis, I make use of several new datasets constructed for historical sources that provide rich information on the kin networks of elites, including rosters of holders of elite examination degrees (Tongnianchilu) and rosters of local officials (Tongguanlu). I will conclude with an assessment for future prospects for similar analyses for China before the 20th century using other datasets.
About
Cameron Campbell is Chair Professor in the Division of Social Science at HKUST, and Distinguished Professor at the Central China Normal University School of History and Culture. He previously taught at UCLA.
His research focuses on family, population, and stratification, especially in historical China and in comparative perspective. With collaborators and students in the Lee-Campbell group, he is conducting a study of 19th century Chinese educational and political elites based on analysis of databases of civil and exam degree holders that he and his collaborators have constructed from historical sources. He has also published on family, kinship, inequality, and demographic behaviour in historical China and in comparative perspective. His research has been supported by grants from the United States National Institutes of Health and the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.
He is the co-author of four books, including Fate and Fortune in Rural China (Cambridge 1997) and Life under Pressure: Mortality and Living Standards in Europe and Asia 1700-1900 (MIT Press 2004). His articles have appeared in flagship journals such as American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, and Demography. In total, he has published 66 peer-reviewed research articles.
He has been named a Guggenheim Fellow (2004), a Chang Jiang Scholar (2017), and a Fellow of the Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (2022). He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995 and his Bachelor's Degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1989.
Register to Take Part
You would like to attend the Online Seminar Talk? You are very welcome. Please register by writing an e-mail to office-zagheni@demogr.mpg.de.
Online Seminar Talk, June, 10th from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Rostock time)