【作者简介】白 帆，中国人民大学

【文章来源】《社会学评论》2024年第4期

【内容提要】近年来，高考志愿填报市场化趋势明显，产生了不可忽视的社会影响。本文探究了高考志愿咨询市场的缔约过程，并以嵌入性与关系运作视角对交易的目的、性质和达成方式进行分析。研究发现，高考志愿付费咨询市场嵌入于制度环境，伴随着制度变迁形成了独有的交易条件与信息优势，因而能够提供经济最优策略。在其缔约过程中，交易的达成高度依赖合同双方对关系位置与文化观念的塑造，通过对“老师”这一社会角色的建构，咨询机构在模糊“委托-代理”关系的同时获得了制度解读的合法性，进而实现信任维持与风险规避。但在市场逻辑作用下，个体在志愿选择中的主体性被进一步削弱，可能导致社会系统性的偏好转变与结构性的教育资源错配。本研究揭示了市场参与下高考志愿制度可能产生的非预期后果与实现机制，对深入理解市场在教育等非经济领域的运作方式具有启发意义。

【关键词】高考志愿 / 嵌入性 / 关系运作

【全文链接】http://src.ruc.edu.cn/CN/Y2024/V12/I4/215

Optimal Application Purchase：An Analysis of the Contracting Process of the College Entrance Examination Consulting Market

Abstract: In recent years, the rise of the college entrance examination (gaokao) application fee-based counseling has brought a huge market potential, and the increasing number of participants has caused a social impact that can not be ignored.This paper probes into the contracting process of the College entrance examination application consulting market and analyzes the purpose, nature, and method of the transaction from the perspective of embeddedness and relationship operation. It is found that the paid consulting market of gaokao is embedded in the institutional environment, and with the institutional changes, it has formed unique trading conditions and information advantages. Thus, it can provide economic optimal strategies. In the process of contracting, the conclusion of the transaction is highly dependent on the shaping of the relational position and the cultural concept by the two parties to the contract. By constructing the role of“teacher”,the consulting agencies blur the “principal-agent ”relation and obtain the legitimacy of institutional interpretation, in which trust maintenance and risk avoidance can be realized. However, the marketization strategy further weakens the agency of individuals in the application, leading to systematic preference change and structural misallocation of educational resources. It is of far-reaching significance to examine unintended consequences and mechanisms of gaokao with the market and provide an instructive understanding of the way free markets work in non-economic fields such as education.