Table of Content

20 November 2015, Volume 35 Issue 6

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Melancholoa fin-de-siècle and American Ethos: Parsons and the Modern Transition of Classical Social Theory

ZHAO Liwei

2015, 35(6):  1-30. 

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Talcott Parsons’s the Structure of Social Action (1937) presents a unique inquiry, in which historical, empirical and theoretical approaches were blended together. The book treated social theories of the late 19th and early 20th century and the practical inquires made by those social theorists as the object of its empirical study, however, what it had accomplished was a foundational structure for social theories and their future development. The Structure forged a link between what was before and what came after in the history of sociology, marking the modern transition of classical sociological theories. On the one hand, by exploring major social theory contributors at the turn of the century, the Structure started a reflective sociological examination of its own tradition and development. On the other hand, by considering the totality of all the contributions, the Structure incorporated the basic elements of the classical social theories into modern a social action theory, or “voluntaristic theory of action” in Parsons’ term. Parsons’ book was written during the New Deal era. Under the influence of his time, Parsons gave an entirely new reading to the classical social theories. His interpretation hinted a typically activist and optimistic nature of “American ethos” and therefore separated the classical theories to the problems of their time. Interestingly, this Americanized interpretation serves as an evidence of Parsons’ ambition to build a universally applicable theoretical structure of social science.


Politics and Society: An Interpretation of The Spirit of Laws

CHEN Tao

2015, 35(6):  31-57. 

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Starting with Comte and Durkheim’s sociological reading of Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Laws, this paper attempts to offer a reinterpretation of the work in order to clarify the transition from political science to sociology. This will help us to examine the basic issues and propositions of sociology. According to Montesquieu’s critique, political scientists in the past saw society through the lens of natural law and social contract, excluding laws and customs as they were seen as either arbitrary outcomes of the will of legislator or practical actions by contingency, things of nonscientific nature. By redefining the concept of law, Montesquieu expanded the scope of political science from the study of human nature and political institutions to society as a whole, including climate, soil, the general spirit, mores, and manners of a nation, commerce, and religions as well. Thus, it promoted the transtion form political science to sociology. However, politics continued to be Montesquieu’s primary interest. The principle of the governments, i.e. the passions of the citizens under particular governments, constitutes the political expression of the general spirit, the mores and the manners of the nations. In his view, it is the choice and action of a nation in political sphere that exercise definitive influence on other parts of a society. Legislation is the precise point that joins the principles of governments with the mores,manners, and general spirit of a nation, something that was overlooked in Comte and Durkheim’s works. It is understood that for Montesquieu politics is not a subsystem of society, instead, it is a perspective through which a society can be examined as a whole, or a perspective that even transcends society itself. This brings us to question the current trend in sociology that places all its focus on society but neglects politics.


From Locke to Hume: The Turning Direction of English Political Thoughts

YANG Lu

2015, 35(6):  58-84. 

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Studies on English social theories tend to emphasize utilitarianism as their main trait, ignoring the diverse and complicated change and fusion in history. After experiencing wars and revolutions, England was obliged to search for new ideas and ways in response to the new social reality without abandoning its intellectual tradition.  In the early 18th century, the infusion of Scottish enlightenment dramatically changed the political society of English Puritan tradition and introduced something new based on the emerging civil commercial society.  Locke’s ideas of natural law and freedom constitution are within the paradigm of Christianity. His Puritan tradition planted seeds for future radicalism. Hume’s “science of man” revealed the common course of things and presented political science as a product of philosophical reasoning upon historical facts. This is an important turning point in English history of political thoughts. From classics to human history, Hume gave us a solid foundation of philosophical reasoning and opened up a new way of social and political studies：a new liberal tradition in English political thoughts. This paper tries to map out these changes in England political thoughts from Locke to Hume by a close examination of the two important Philosophers’ ideas. Lessons can be learnt from this study as China is currently experiencing a transition much similar to the one England had experienced.


Institutions and Life for People with Disability: From “Individual Model” to “Universal Model”

YANG Zeng

2015, 35(6):  85-115. 

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The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in both the number of people with disability and the social services provided for them. However, sociological studies on the matter are evidently lacking. This paper examines the history of social service for the disabled in the United States and the United Kingdom. Both countries experienced changes in the institution and life of the disabled from the medical model and individual support welfare model to the social model and universal model.The social and universal models of disability offer a critique of “healthism”, a notion that people with disability are different to “what is healthy”. The social and universal models treat people with disability not as objects of medical treatment and social protection but “subjects” of life. Such thinking is not unfamiliar in China as well. In practice, institution and life experience intersect, and proper channels should be provided for the disabled to give feedback on any institutional shortcomings in meeting their needs. By examining this historical change in the UK and the US we can gain a better understanding of our own situation and give room for further reform.


Misunderstanding of the Social Model of Disability and Its Impact on Practice

HOSHIKA Ryoji

2015, 35(6):  116-132. 

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This paper offers a sociological examination of the social model of disability, focusing on some of the misinterpretations of the Model. For instance, the lack of attention to the relationship between macrosocial structure and disability, the narrow focus on dualism of “disability and impairment”, and the disregard of the distinction between social welfare system and individual life. The paper questions any possible inner limits of the social model that causes such misinterpretations. There is a difficult balance between satisfying individual needs and protecting group rights for the disabled as often individual experiences conflict with public and political interests. The dualistic concept of “disability and impairment” of the social model is valuable as an analytic tool but in practice its overemphasis of political effectiveness might be problematic. In the view of the author, any attempt to change social attitudes and values must be rooted in practicality.The question regarding how the practicality of social model is possible presupposes an investigation about whether a disabling society is possible and whether an ableistic society has any advantages and disadvantages.


Studies on Disability and Social Participation: Barrier Free, Universal Design, Capability and Difference

WANG Guoyu

2015, 35(6):  133-152. 

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Disability study as an academic discipline has existed for over four decades in the West. It has tremendous influence on public policies. The burden of providing accessible environment for people with disability has been shifted from individual adjustments to the state and society services. This paper compares the two major models in disability studies—the Social Model and the Universal Model, and their corresponding public policies on three areas of barrier free, universal design and capability approach. People with disability should enjoy the same rights to social participation as their basic human rights. Society and government play a major role in assuring such rights are protected. Providing a disability friendly environment is the key to the success. The Social Model is better recognized than the Universal Model in the West. When it comes to the environmental barriers, the Social Model looks at ways of removing barriers in social environment that restrict life choices for disabled people. The Social Model has undoubtedly made great contribution to the disability rights movement in the past decades. It is not until WHO put forward the model as its core paradigm to define disability and health in ICF in the late 1990s, the world knew very little about Irving Zola’s universal approach. Zola believes that disability is a universal experience of humanity. The model brings our body experience into the discussion of disability experience and places disability as part of everyone’s life experience. Only when we acknowledge the universality of disability, we can demystify the term and stop discrimination. Zola’s ideas and his vision were ahead of his time. When we look at the two models’ accessible designs, the contrast is clear. It makes Zola’s contribution even more appreciated today than ever.


Trends in Occupational Gender Segregation in China: 1982-2010

LI Wangyang XIE Yu

2015, 35(6):  153-177. 

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Occupational gender segregation is a welldocumented phenomenon. It is the primary cause of gender income disparity. In recent years, sociological studies in China have investigated gender segregation in the labor with a focus on the degree and trends of the change since the Reform. There is no consensus in the findings. This is because that many studies used faulty methodology that relied on confusing occupation classification resulting in incompatibility. Many studies also did not separate the two sources of change in occupational segregation, namely, changes due to shifts in sex composition within occupations and changes due to shifts in workforce size and structure of occupations. In this paper, we seek to address these two problems while looking into the question of occupational gender segregation since the Reform. Using the data from the Chinese census in the years of 1982, 1990, 2000, and 2010, we examine the longterm trends of gender segregation in the labor force over the span of 28 years. Our study indicates an overall steady increase in occupational gender segregation in China while the nonagricultural sector has in fact witnessed a decline after an initial increase from 1982 to 1990. The overall increase is largely due to the changes in occupational structure in China while the decline in nonagricultural sector can be explained with women’s increased presence in many formally male dominated professions since the 1990s.


Social Capital and Gender Income Gap under Marketization：Based on 2009 JSNet Data

CHEN Yuting ZHANG Wenhong

2015, 35(6):  178-205. 

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The marketization in China has impacted social capital and gender income gap. Using the data from the 2009 JSNet Survey, this study investigates the effect of social capital on gender income gap in China and how the impact varies in different occupational sectors. The finding indicates that: (1) gender gap is greater in more market driven sectors than government sectors; (2) internet resources provide more rewards to women in government sectors than private sectors while no such differences exist with men; (3) within the social network of hierarchy, men is more likely rewarded according their ranks (social capital) in private sectors while there is no difference for women between the two sectors. We conclude that the social network of hierarchy has helped increase the gender gap in earnings. Marketization benefits men by increasing their social capital through their social standing while women are less affected, thus it contributes to the increasing gender income gap.


To the Courts or to the Streets：The Dilemma of Rights Defending Movement

GUAN Bin

2015, 35(6):  206-234. 

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There are different processes and consequences between defending civil rights via noninstitutional means and institutional legal channels. “Rightful Resistance” is intensely debated in existing literature. Many works discuss various paradoxical attributes of collective actions outside the system，for instance，opportunity paradox，risk paradox，organization paradox and institution paradox. This study intends to show that protecting civil rights through litigation and legal activism can overcome these paradoxes，even though action sought within the system has its own constraints. The most common constraint is that legal fees are high and outcomes are timeconsuming and unpredictable，thus it discourages its adoption. Street protests generate direct political pressure on local governments and force them to react with quick temporary measures to meet the demands. Legal actions require high costs but not always deliver results. However， the choice of outside or within the system action is not just determined on the base of costbenefit calculation， it is a matter of political opportunity structure as well. The homeowner activists in this case study opt for the court， not the streets. Their decision can be explained by factors such as the political administrative structure of the locality， a responsive local media， Internet network，and the higher educational level of the homeowners.