Acquaintance Relationship, Moral Judgment and Market Price Competition：A Case Study of the Home Lodging Operation in Xi Village, Henan Province

Luo Congcong 

Published in Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2025, Issue 1.

Abstract: In the context of rural revitalization, how the rural home lodging market is priced in an orderly manner affects the high-quality development of the rural tourism industry. With the help of a case study on the pricing of rural home lodging in Xi Village, Henan Province, this paper investigates how the acquaintance society can curb market-driven low-price competition. The research reveals that the moral judgment mechanism within acquaintance relationships plays a regulatory role in the formatio n of competitive pricing order. This mechanism，through processes of publicization and moralization， employs methods such as discussion， gossip， reduced interaction， and non-cooperation to encourage orderly pricing among operators. Specifically，it maintains price differentiation between different types of lodgings，upscale lodgings do not engage in low-price competition to undermine the interests of other operators. Lodgings of the same type agree upon and abide by a price floor，preventing the interests of the majority and the collective from being harmed by the price-lowering actions of a single operator. The specific process of moral judgment involves villagers，within their acquaintance relationships，using mutual discussions and seeking intermediaries to convey messages，thereby turning judgment of certain individuals into a collective consensus of the village. On the basis of this consensus，villagers exert substantial pressure by reducing their interactions with the persons being judged，by not cooperating with them，and not acknowledging their position and status，and so on. The reciprocal norms of shared benefits and mutual care internalised in Chinese acquaintance society，embodied in the dual dimensions of livelihood and daily life，provide a moral foundation for the modulation of price competition through moral judgment. This paper elucidates the mechanisms of moral judgment and its dynamic interplay with market forces, revealing the moral connotation and Chinese characteristics inherent in rural market competition order. It offers significant insights for advancing rural revitalization and Chinese-style modernization.

Keywords：price competition，acquaintance relationship，moral judgment，reciprocity norm