Social Research articles from March 2006

Social Research archives from March 2006

Editor's introduction.
March 22, 2006... THIS ISSUE OF SOCIAL RESEARCH IS ANOTHER IN OUR RECURRING SERIES reflecting on important political and economic transitions in the world. The series began in 1988 with issues on the transition in East and Central Europe and the former Soviet...

Guest editor's introduction.(history of political system)(Editorial)
March 22, 2006... FASCINATION WITH CHINA IS DEFINITELY NOT A NEW PHENOMENON. Without going back to Marco Polo, whose book of marvels gave birth to that fascination, one can instead recall that the Enlightenment philosophers regarded the government of the Middle...

The emergence of capitalism in China: an historical perspective and its impact on the political system.(I. China's Economy in Transition)
March 22, 2006... ON THE EVE OF THE LAUNCH OF ITS ECONOMIC REFORM PROGRAM IN 1978, China was seen as shackled by its thousand-year-old bureaucracy--a bureaucracy that, while guaranteeing longevity and territorial integrity through its authoritarian and predatory...

Small government, big society? What role for the State in the Chinese Transition process?(II. Chinese Politics)
March 22, 2006... An American scholar asked confusedly: In China today, who on earth is holding sway, the left or the right? I answered him: In light of your criteria, neither. Because leftists will make detailed inquiries about the responsibilities of the...

The changing aspects of civil society of China.(II. Chinese Politics)
March 22, 2006... THE STUDY OF STATE-SOCIETY RELATIONS IS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT of political science and is particularly useful in characterizing a political regime. This approach is especially fruitful in the study of communist regimes. The rediscovery of the...

Confucianization: a future in the tradition.(Two Conflicting Views of China's Political Future)
March 22, 2006... WHITHER CHINA? This question has engaged the attention of China and the world in modern times, and it is all the more urgent and pressing today. Two dominating opinions have taken shape around this question. One holds that the status quo...

Reform in China: the role of civil society.(Two Conflicting Views of China's Political Future)
March 22, 2006... THE MATERIAL LIFE OF THE VAST MAJORITY OF CHINESE PEASANTS IS at a much higher level than during the totalitarian period of Mao's rule. Moreover, even though the present period is characterized both by corruption and social polarization, there...

Conflict in the countryside: the emerging political awareness of the peasants.(III. Social Groups)
March 22, 2006... 1. THE MEANING OF SOCIAL ACTION ORIENTATION THERE ARE TWO BASIC WAYS TO UNDERSTAND THE METHODS OF THE contemporary Chinese resistance movement to protect the fights of peasants: the logic of action and the structure of action. The logic of...

The social marginalization of workers in China's state-owned enterprises.(III. Social Groups)
March 22, 2006... THE PROCESS OF RESTRUCTURING CHINA'S STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES (SOEs) has seen workers at these enterprises stage repeated collective actions since the late 1990s. Scholars have attributed these spontaneous collective actions--especially the...

The changing situation of migrant labor.(III. Social Groups)
March 22, 2006... DURING THE LAST 15 YEARS, CHINESE URBAN AREAS HAVE BEEN THE SITE of a paradoxical situation: a great numbers of workers in state-owned enterprises have lost their jobs while many rural residents have flocked to the cities to work in the...

Escaping from under the party's thumb: a few examples of migrant workers' strivings for autonomy.(III. Social Groups)
March 22, 2006... REFORMS BROUGHT WITH THEM THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY'S retreat from certain social and economic spheres and smashed what was once claimed to be identical interests between the party-state, the working people, and the enterprise administrators....

The political "participation" of entrepreneurs: challenge or opportunity for the Chinese communist party?(III. Social Groups)
March 22, 2006... IN 1978, DURING THE THIRD PLENUM OP THE ELEVENTH NATIONAL party congress, Deng Xiaoping initiated a new economic policy that was to have dramatic economic and social effects. Turning his back on Mao Zedong egalitarianism (pingjun zhuyi), Deng...

The "Lost Generation": its definition and its role in today's Chinese Elite politics.(III. Social Groups)
March 22, 2006... THE "LOST GENERATION," OR THE GENERATION OF THE CULTURAL revolution, is unique in world history: it is the result of the demiurgical will of one man, Mao Zedong, to create a whole generation of "revolutionary successors" entirely devoted to the...

China's environmental and developmental issues in transition.(IV. China and the World)
March 22, 2006... CHINA HAS SEEN RAPID ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AS WELL AS SEVERE environmental degradation over the past two decades. Although the Chinese government has made a great effort to provide environmental protection, it has been stymied by China's...

Hong Kong's relations with China: the future of "one country, two systems".(IV. China and the World)
March 22, 2006... NINE YEARS INTO THE TUMULTUOUS LIFE OF HONG KONG AS A SPECIAL Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China, it has become clearer what role Hong Kong plays in China's modernization. This paper argues that Hong Kong's role is...

The peaceful emergence of a great power?(IV. China and the World)
March 22, 2006... THE RAPID GROWTH OF CHINA'S ECONOMIC, MILITARY, AND DIPLOMATIC power has captured international attention for more than 10 years, and has stimulated policy and scholarly debates worldwide. The first round of the debate, which took place in the...