Table of Content

20 January 2023, Volume 43 Issue 1

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International Rivalry and Ancient Constitution: Hume on the Glorious Revolution and the Making of Modern Constitution in England

ZHANG Shuai

2023, 43(1):  1-26. 

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Charles Tilly’s theory of capitalized coercion based on the historical experience of Western Europe has now been widely accepted by historical sociologists. However，his difficulties in dealing with the English polity require us to gain a deeper understanding of England’s efforts to transform ancient constitution in order to establish a modern government that could accommodate the popular demands of liberty as well as respond to the international competitions.Hume’s analysis of the Glorious Revolution offers us valuable insights. Faced with international challenges，the King attempted to strengthen the state power through a series of unconventional religious and military policies that had threatened the political tradition. It provoked widespread suspicions that the monarch intended to replace English liberty with French absolutism，which eventually led to the outbreak of revolution. The Glorious Revolution transformed ancient constitution by restricting prerogative and giving priority to popular principles that safeguarded the political ideal of liberty. The Revolution also resolved the major differences between the king and the parliament，and brought in a powerful commercial state capable of dealing with international rivalries. Thus， England avoided succumbing to the fate of French absolutism. Hume’s analysis of the Glorious Revolution reveals that the modern state，built by transforming the traditional order，must both protect individual and civil liberty， and meet international challenges. Understanding both the strength and liberty of a modern state is central to understanding the Glorious Revolution and the modern English polity，and the secret of modern states in general.

“Revenge for the Common Injuries” or the Dimension of Socialization of Indignation:Spinoza's Political Treatise and the Affective Foundation of a Free Community

SONG Yifan

2023, 43(1):  27-54. 

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Spinoza's political social theory can be regarded as an "anomaly" in the entire enlightenment tradition. Although his theory shows a strong affinity with the social contract theory represented by Thomas Hobbes,its substantive connotation goes far beyond the discourse of natural law. This means moving away from viewing political society as a "imperio in imperium",rejecting the normative and moral interpretations of nature. Spinoza regards human affects as the real social forces and the interplay of these individual forces as the very foundation of every state. Among them,imagination plays a vital role in the process of socialization,mobilization and activation of collective affects. Thus,the "indignation" of given society, or the "right of war" of the multitude, is introduced into the discussion of the origin of society in a very tense way. Unlike the antagonistic political action discourse advocated by Antonio Negri and others,Spinoza emphasizes the spatio-temporal character of indignation and put it under the framework of an affective dynamics. In the spatial dimension,the affective imitation and imaginary identification aroused by indignation can contribute to the socialization. In the temporal dimension, indignation itself is a highly unstable,short-lived and situation-determined affect. For Spinoza the process of socialization by "imaging an enemy" is always problematic and inevitably introduces hatred and exclusion into the foundation of community. Therefore,the long-time maintenance of affects,especially those truly integrated into collective memory and institutional culture,requires a dynamic transformation of affects over time,namely from "desire" to "longing" and "hate" to "love". This dynamic moment is also called "fluctuation" in Spinoza's term. For him a good community is never merely dominated by reason,but also requires as much as possible a transformation of the "fear" model of solidarity into the unity of "hope". Fear can eliminate war and create obedience,but can never effectively improve the power of minds and appease indignation at the bottom of society. Even though hope in itself is not a normative idea,it is more likely to be in harmony with rational forms of governing,to have a higher trust in society and a more active imagination,and eventually to gain experience of empowerment.

The Succession of Chong and the Principle of Zunzun: The Ethicalization of Political Power in Traditional China from the Perspective of Clan Lineage and Monarch Lineage

WU Liucai

2023, 43(1):  55-83. 

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The traditional Chinese domination type is characterized by a human relationship-based rather than matter-of-fact based approach. This is because of the internal structure and ethical logic of traditional domination. Power comes from "zun"(尊 respect), and the essence of domination is a type of "zunzun"(尊尊). According to the meaning of "zunzun"(尊尊), there are clan power within the patriarchal system and monarchal power outside the patriarchal system. The process of power succession is the process of establishing the lineage of "zunzun"(尊尊), which is specifically divided into two parts:the monarch lineage and the clan lineage. Monarchy and patriarchy are different in terms of the specific institutional level as the former refers to political power and the latter patriarchal power, but they share the same set of ethical order based on father-son ethics. Specifically, the implementation of power succession depends on the system of succession of chong (重) with the latter being the key link for the purpose of establishing the lineage order of "zunzun"(尊尊). "Succession of chong(重)" has two meanings:one is to inherit and continue the spirit of the deceased ancestors, and the other is the wife's-first-son succession rule in the patriarchal and feudal system. These two meanings reveal the ethical connotation of power. In this process, the primogeniture system is the core of power succession and its legitimacy comes from the principle of "zunzun"(尊尊), reflecting the ultimate manifestation of the political destiny of Heaven's Mandate and men's ethical virtues since the Zhou dynasty. Therefore, the common law of the wife's-first-son succession embodies the ethical and moral characteristics of traditional power. In addition, the succession variation of "weirenhou"(为人后,being-the-descendant) complements and maintains the ethical foundation of the traditional power succession. The succession of the clan lineage adheres to the principle of generational order, while the succession of the monarch lineage embodies the principle of ethical analogy. In general, the traditional politics is rooted in the father-son ethics. Traditional China presents the characteristics of ethicalization of political power and is a "family-polity community" entity.

The Meaning of Zu in Chinese Traditional Patriarchal Clan System:A Study of the Formation of the Nine-Generation Clan System

QIN Pengfei

2023, 43(1):  84-108. 

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This article is an intellectual history study on the traditional family system. It is based on the relevant texts in Rituals (Yi Li) and Book of Rites (Li Ji) with a focus on a kinship system known as the Nine-Generation clan system (Jiuzu Zhi). As an ideal family structure of Confucianism, the Nine-Generation system is an essential part of the traditional patriarchal clan system in Chinese society. This study examines the fundamental basis and its construction principle and process of the Nine- Generation system from the perspective of Confucianism.
The Nine-Gen eration system starts at the centre of oneself and ends with a gradually extrapolated circle of kinship. The circle defines the scope of kinship that one has. In the Book of Rites:Funeral Dresses, it is said: "In counting the kindred (in mourning rituals), from the three closest generations it expands to the next closest five generations, and then from the five to the next nine. The mourning dressing codes and the period of mourning are gradually diminished as the generations ascend or descend outwards to the collateral branches, and eventually end beyond this point." This scripture is the key to understand the Nine-Generation and it reveals the core construction principle of the system, which is called "Diminishing Attachment of Kinship". Starting from oneself, one has affection for one's father, this affection is extended to one's immediate ancestors, and then to further distance ancestors. The same with the descent order from one's sons to grandsons and so on. In the process, the further out the circle, the more diminished affection for each other. Therefore, "Diminishing Attachment of Kinship" becomes the most important construction principle and it eventually forms the Nine-Generation kinship group linking great- great-grandfathers to great-great-grandsons.
The study points out the significance of the Nine-Generation in Confucianism, arguing that it is the institutionalized interpretation of the "father-son" cardinal relationship and the essential ethic principal of "filial piety" in Confucian humanism. In addition, the study also examines the relationship between the Nine-Generation system and the traditional patriarchal clan system, asserting that the former is the prerequisite for understanding the latter.

People-Centred Scientific Practice: The Soviet Psycho- Prophylactic Method of Painless Childbirth in 1950s China

WANG Ying

2023, 43(1):  109-137. 

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This study regards the adoption and promotion of the Soviet Psycho- prophylactic Method of painless childbirth in China in the 1950s as a scientific practice. It analyzes how the method is accepted, justified and adapted as part of our understanding of the Chinese-style modernisation. The acceptance, resistance and adaptation of the Soviet psychoprophylactic method in China are seen as a result of the intertwined local knowledge and transnational knowledge transmission, a continuity of the scientific tradition of Yan'an period, as well as a response to the needs of specific historical situation. In the context of New China, science and politics were nothing more than a relationship of mutual support and benefit. Under the framework of socialist medical discourse of the 1950s, medical practitioners transfigured the political promotion of painless childbirth into scientific narrative and practice. Soviet knowledge and technology were interpreted locally as midwifery actions, perineal protection, and even Pavlov's scientific theory and rhetoric were borrowed to help develop the medicine of the Chinese nation. The movement was simultaneously a process of remoulding the mindset of Chinese professionals and intellectuals after 1949. The promotion of people-centred Soviet psychoprophylactic method of painless childbirth in China was accompanied by complex narratives of science, class, gender and nation, riddled with tensions between de-technicalization and re-technicalization, and between civilized childbirth and management of labor pain.

The Change of Interaction Rules in the Mobile Internet Era： Take the Choice of Voice-Text Messages in WeChat as an Example

ZHENG Dandan, DONG Kehan

2023, 43(1):  138-172. 

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The interaction theorists represented by Goffman have put forward a series of important theories about the micro-interaction order of daily life. However, with the advent of the mobile internet era, the rule and order of face-to-face interaction may have changed. Taking the choice of voice and text messages in WeChat as an example, this paper examines the characteristics of the time-space separation, and the impact of macro cultural background in the internet era on individual social interactions, expanding and enriching the relevant content of Interaction Ritual theory from the two aspects of cultural and technological changes. Through semi-structured interviews, it is found that the categorical impression management technology used by people in WeChat can be regarded as an online construction of offline differential associations in relationship. The spatio-temporal separation and reorganization mechanism of the Internet influence online interactions by affecting the interaction context. Specifically, this kind of interaction has caused the following changes. First, sending voice messages at will has become the privilege of the superior over the subordinate, and under the easier operation of reflective monitoring, the two-way avoidance ritual has become the one-way obligation of the subordinate, strengthening the interaction order. Second, there is a trend of de-common-situation in discrete WeChat interactions, embodied in the decrease of situation pressure and the necessity of situation accumulation. Therefore, reflective monitoring is easier to operate than before, resulting in simple general rules of interaction based on relative status. Third, the uncertainty of the interaction situation after the time-space separation and the solidification of interaction results cause the subordinate feel insecure and anxious about using voice messages. In addition, the discrepancy between the interaction discussed in this study and Goffman's theory may also be related to the uniqueness of Chinese culture. Due to technological progress and changes in social structure, the making of WeChat interaction rules is still in progress and it demands long-term observation and careful analysis.

Home, Factory and the Birth of Modern Individuals in China:An Analysis of the Life-World of the Characters in Fei Xiaotong's Cocoon

LING Peng, MENG Qi

2023, 43(1):  173-202. 

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Cocoon is an English novel written by Fei Xiaotong after his work of great importance in theory and documentation-Peasant Life in China. Previous studies of the novel have mainly focused on its social economy and family structure, and have rarely explored the significance of the major characters' emotional and mental changes in the story. By introducing the concept and perspective of "life-world", this paper carefully analyses the emotional and mental changes of the characters in the novel, and finds that Fei Xiaotong presents the birth process of his ideal modern Chinese individual through the image of Baozhu, that is, in the overlap and tension of home(i.e. cocoon) and factory, the modern individual can truly emerge. What follows is a new life-world structure based on modern individuals. In this structure, home is not only the place where the individual is raised, but also the source of motivation and the place of security for the individual. After breaking off from the cocoon(home), the modern individual is most likely to return to re-build the important place of "home" in the new life world. In contrast, the image of Wang Wanqiu in the novel shows another possible entanglement state of the individual. For Wang Wanqiu, there is no real home as a place of nurturing and a source of motivation, so her self-individual is unable to build a system that re-accommodates the home and the external world. Instead, she longs more for a fantasy home, resulting in a series of actions and consequences. The contrast between Baozhu and Wang Wanqiu in Cocoon truly reveals Fei Xiaotong's understanding of the complex possibility of Chinese people and Chinese society changing from tradition to modernity. The novel opens up an important sociological research avenue on the relationship between individuals and families in China.

Social Compliance or Contagion: Mental Health Research from the Perspective of Class Peer Network

ZHANG Qian

2023, 43(1):  203-240. 

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Based on the background of China's administrative school class system and the existing literature on peer networks and mental health, this paper proposes a theoretical presupposition on the influence of class peer networks on students' mental health and its conditional mechanism. A multi-layer linear model is applied to test this theoretical presupposition. Using the China Educational Panel Survey (CEPS) data in the years of 2014 and 2015, this study obtained the following solid and consistent findings:First, under the Chinese administrative class system, the overall mental health level of the class (social compliance effect) and the happy peer proportion (happy peer effect) can have a significant positive impact on students' mental health, and the proportion of depressed peers is significantly correlated with students' negative mental health (depressed peer effect). Secondly, students are more likely to be influenced by peers with similar mental health concepts and behaviors, and groups with poor, medium and good mental health are predominantly affected by depression peer effect, social compliance effect and happy peer effect respectively. Finally, class peer networks have a differentiated impact on the mental health of students with different group integration and parent-child communication. With the improvement of group integration and parent-child communication, the depressed peer effect gradually weakens, while the social compliance effect and happy peer effect gradually increase. In conclusion, this study tested the social compliance effect, depressive peer effect and happy peer effect under the administrative class system, and further explored the conditional mechanism of the three effects on different individual students, the relationship between individual and class, and parent-child relationship. The finding of peer effect in this paper can provide future references for the improvement of the mental health of adolescents through human intervention and adjustment.