Social Sciences in China Review

No.3, 2019

 

The Gains and Losses of Chinese Sociology: Modernization, Social Capital, Theory, and Discipline (Abstract)

 

Li Lulu, Zhang Wenhong, Hu Rong and Wen Jun

 

Since the reform and opening up, Chinese sociology has just witnessed 40 years of recovery and reconstruction. During this period, the construction of Chinese sociology has included not only the inheritance and development of the existing accumulation, but also disciplinary reflection on the current reality. Along with the reform and opening up of Chinese society, when learning from foreign counterparts, it is also necessary to have exchanges. In such a historical process, what have been the gains and losses of Chinese sociology?

In order to reflect on the gains and losses of Chinese sociology since the reform and opening up, in December 2018, four professors were invited to share their perspectives on this topic from their own areas of expertise at Peking University. They are Professor Li Lulu from the School of Social and Population Studies at Renmin University of China, Professor Zhang Wenhong from the School of Sociology at Shanghai University, Professor Hu Rong from the School of Sociology and Anthropology at Xiamen University, and Professor Wen Jun from the School of Social Development at East China Normal University. Among them are the students Li Lulu, Zhang Wenhong, and Hu Rong from a sociology class at Nankai University on the beginning of the recovery and reconstruction of sociology in the early stage of reform and opening up. They have witnessed the recovery and reconstruction of Chinese sociology. Wen Jun is a second-generation scholar after the recovery and reconstruction. The development of sociology since then has involved many issues in its subject areas. Here, we only hope to explore the gains and losses of the discipline’s construction and development from the perspective of insiders, two areas of expertise, and the theoretical and disciplinary construction levels, anticipating further reflection on the academic construction and development both within and beyond the discipline.