This paper analyzes the competition among clubs in which the status of club members is the crucial added value accruing to fellow club members through social interaction within the club (e.g. in professional sports clubs, academic faculties, country clubs, or internet communities). In the course of competition for new members, clubs trade off the effect of entry on average status of the club an...

ion is necessary for broad explanatory power (Hedström and Swedberg 1998:10, 13; Kiser and Hechter 1991). 13 The mechanisms that cause ascriptive inequality to vary do not include abstract or global phenomena such as devaluation, discrimination, exclusion, exploitation, meritocracy, oppression, and social closure that describe but do not explain patterns of inequality (e.g., Reskin 1988; Tomask...

The COVID-19 pandemic is fundamentally affecting the world by challenging governments. Although most countries are still combating virus, China, as first plagued country, has basically contained pandemic. This review article aims to analyze and explain how Chinese government achieved this task. By tracing detailed timeline of pandemic, it dissects political meritocracy policy integration govern...