目前关于腐败的研究大多集中在从宏观上分析腐败产生的政治、经济与社会环境。本文则从微观层面上分析腐败行为,特别是:贿赂行为是如何在行贿人和受贿人的操作下进行的。在此基础上,本文特别探讨为什么“关系”在腐败交换行为中有不可替代的重要性。通过具体的实证分析,本文得出结论:贿赂行为的过程不是一些无序的分散行为的简单集合,而是遵循特定的规则和惯例。这些规则和惯例可以被视为替代市场来推动腐败进行的非正式交换机制。本文论证了“关系”以及与此相关的一系列行为正是这种非正式交换机制的具体体现。它的主要功能是:通过将腐败交换与社会交换嫁接以排除妨碍腐败交易进行的法律、道德和认知障碍并将腐败参与者的交易安全风险、道德成本和认知失调最小化。目前学界通常认为:是中国的“关系”文化诱发了腐败。本文持相反观点,即腐败制造了“关系”文化,因为“关系”作为一种替代市场的非正式交换机制是腐败的必要组成部分。 At present, most of the studies on corruption focus on the macroscopic analysis of the political, economic and social environments resulting from corruption. This article analyzes the corrupt behavior at the micro level, in particular: how bribery is conducted under the bribery and bribery practices. On this basis, this article particularly discusses why “relationship ” has an irreplaceable importance in the exchange of corrupt practices. Through concrete empirical analysis, this paper concludes that the process of bribery is not a simple collection of disorganized and scattered behaviors, but rather follows certain rules and practices. These rules and practices can be seen as an informal exchange mechanism that substitutes markets for the promotion of corruption. This article argues that “relationship ” and a series of related behaviors are exactly the embodiment of this informal exchange mechanism. Its main function is to remove the legal, moral and cognitive barriers that impede the conduct of corrupt transactions by grafting corruption exchanges and social exchange grants and to minimize the transactional security risks, moral costs and cognitive disorders of corrupt participants. At present, the academic community generally believes that it is China’s “relationship” culture that has induced corruption. This article holds the opposite view that corruption creates a “relational” culture, because “relation ” is an essential part of corruption as an informal exchange mechanism to replace the market.