What is it about?
Chinese sociology was denounced and abolished as “bourgeois science” for more than a quarter of a century (1952-1979). This article examines the politics of rebuilding Chinese sociology. Examining lectures, reports, and essays associated with the first three officially approved research projects (1981-1986), I clarify why the quantitative paradigm was embraced by sociologists at the expense of qualitative inquiry. With the introduction of survey questionnaire methods from the West and the making of sociological knowledge “useful” within China, sociology rebuilt its disciplinary identity and legitimacy. Based upon my analysis, I lay out three thematic issues essential to a critical, decentered approach in qualitative research.
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Why is it important?
Qualitative scholars have criticized the development of qualitative research based upon its Western assumptions and practices. Yet insufficient effort has been directed to derive a history of social science inquiry from the global South. The paper is an effort to address the issue, using China as a case study. The paper illustrates how Chinese sociologists made deliberate efforts to "adapt foreign assets to serve China" in the context of state-driven marketization and socialist modernization. It reveals how Chinese sociologists cautiously carved out a methodological space for the discipline alongside the legacy of Mao's Investigative Research. It explains why ethnographic research was sidelined despite the fact that the highly reputable Chinese ethnographer Fei Xiaotong was in charge of the rebuilding Chinese sociology.
Perspectives
Over the years, I develop a de-centred approach to qualitative research, paying attention to the experiences of the global South. I address the following questions: (1) what research tradition actually exist locally as a means of knowledge production; (2) how these are similar to or different from the qualitative research of the global North; (3) what the implications are of having these traditions for the practice and development of qualitative research in the global South; and (4) how these locally grounded histories may enrich qualitative research in a global world. This paper is part of my overall effort.
Dr Ping-Chun Hsiung
University of Toronto
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Politics of Rebuilding Chinese Sociology in 1980s, Qualitative Inquiry, July 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1077800416655826.
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