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A New Interpretation of Lenin's What Is To Be Done?: From the Perspective of Comparative Historical Sociology YING Xing Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 56-86.   Abstract （1111）   HTML （58）    PDF（pc） （3304KB）（1279）       Knowledge map    Save Based on the perspective of comparative historical sociology and organizational sociology, this paper provides a new interpretation of Lenin's classic work on party building theory What Is To Be Done? by comparing the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party with the Russian revolutionary populists, and the Second International social democrats with the Chinese Communist Party. The paper first outlines the intellectual and political background of What Is To Be Done?, and then analyzes the similarities and differences of the "indoctrination" mechanism in Europe, Russia, and China, especially emphasizing the difference between "propaganda", "agitation", and "appeal". The discussion continues with a focus on three core organizational issues discussed in chapter four of What Is To Be Done? Through comparison with Weber's analysis of professional politicians, the paper explains Lenin's understanding of the importance of the organisation of professional revolutionaries, especially distinguishing the two meanings of "making revolution a profession". Through comparison with the CCP's work in the white areas, the author highlights the significance of Lenin's proposal to combine a solid organizational core with differentiated organizational circles, illustrated in a diagram outlining the differentiated organizational chart of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party. Through comparison with the Russian revolutionary populists and the Second International, the paper shows the origin and evolution of Lenin's thoughts on the conspiratorial and centralized nature of party organizations, with a focus on the connection between Lenin and Peter Tkachev on this idea. The author also analyzes the relationship between local and central authorities discussed by Lenin in his book. The author finally proposes some directions for further comparative extension, and points out the significance of moving from technical analysis to root cause political analysis in organization research in Chinese sociology. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Long-Term Employment Trajectories of Chinese Women after Their First Childbirth: A Sequence Analysis YANG Yichun, YU Jia, XIE Yu Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 167-203.   Abstract （1021）   HTML （143）    PDF（pc） （3419KB）（1121）       Knowledge map    Save Women's post-maternal employment status is an important factor contributing to gender inequality in labor market. Previous research mainly considered employment as a static and single event, lacking a dynamic life course perspective. Using the 2014 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data, this study applies sequence analysis for the first time to depict a period of twenty-one years of non-agricultural working women's employment trajectories before and after their first childbirth. We divide the sample born between 1940s to 1970s into different birth cohorts to cover three stages of labor market transformations in China:the early days of the PRC, the early stage of market reform and the mature stage of market reform. Results show six typical trajectories of women's post-maternal employment in China. They are:long-term regular employment (55.06%), early return to employment (8.69%), late return to employment (3.98%), self-employment or from employment to self-employment (19.78%), long-term unemployed (8.07%), and long-term informal employment (4.42%). Different employment trajectories reflect clearly the heterogeneity of female group characteristics. Our results also show that with the social changes, the complexity and diversity of Chinese women's employment trajectories have increased significantly, showing that more women frequently switch between multiple employment status. It can be seen from the trajectories of different cohorts that the proportion of women who are able to maintain full-time employment has significantly decreased, while the proportion of self-employed, part-time and non-employment trajectories have increased noticeably. In addition, human capital, institutional patronage, and shared childcare responsibility have significant positive effect on women's full-time employment. Nevertheless, with China's marketization, the protection provided by these factors have substantially weakened over cohorts. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 235-240.   Abstract （447）   HTML （63）    PDF（pc） （620KB）（821）       Knowledge map    Save Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Post-Materialistic Values and Political Participation of Chinese Residents: Based on the Analysis of Generational Differences CHI Shangxin, SHI Yaodong, HUANG Jizhao Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 204-234.   Abstract （863）   HTML （69）    PDF（pc） （2922KB）（696）       Knowledge map    Save Previous studies have shown that post-materialistic values have an important impact on public political participation of the public in Western countries, but there is a lack of research on its role on public political participation in China. Based on Chinese data from the World Values Survey(WVS2018), this paper investigates the impact of post-materialistic values on Chinese residents' political participation from the perspective of generational differences. The selected measurement options of post-materialistic values are assigned different weights and aggregated according to the priority order of goals. Political participation is operationalized into three main types:intra-system, extra-institutional, and online political participation. The generational differences are divided into four generational cohorts:initial construction, reform and opening-up, marketization, and the new century. The study found that:firstly, the score of the current post-materialistic values of Chinese residents is generally not high, but there is a clear generational difference-significantly higher for those who grew up after the reform and opening up, as well as an increasing trend as the generations move forward. Secondly, the generational effect of political participation varies in different aspects. The generations growing up after the reform and opening-up show a generational increasing trend in the political participation outside the system and online, but it is opposite in grassroots elections. Thirdly, post-materialistic values have no significant impact on grassroots election participation but have a significant contributing effect on online political participation and extra-institutional participation which shows an increasing trend with each generation. These findings hold true after robustness testing. Therefore, the study confirms that the changes in public values brought about by social development can be used as cultural variables to explain the extra-institutional and online political participation of contemporary Chinese residents. It also suggests that more attention should be paid to the younger generation in the guidance of values and orderly political participation of citizens. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Wufu and Sandai: Gender and Family Name in the Light of Changes of Marriage Prohibition in China's Marriage Laws ZHAO Xiaoli Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 87-111.   Abstract （1019）   HTML （63）    PDF（pc） （2257KB）（656）       Knowledge map    Save Since the late Qing Dynasty, the scope of prohibited marriage in China's marriage law has undergone a change from wufu (five grades of mourning) to sandai(three generations). Since the Zhou Dynasty, traditional Chinese society had adhered to the Zhou etiquette of "no marriage between members of the same clan". Marriage between cousins(except paternal parallel cousins) had been left to the discretion of the family and not prohibited by law. In 1930, in accordance with the principle of equality between men and women, the kinship section of the Republic of China Civil Code changed the classification of traditional Chinese kinships of internal relatives and extermal relatives to Western-style blood relatives and in-laws, thus introduced a problem of whether or not clan members outside of the wufu circle and cousins within three generations could marry each other. This paper points out these contradictions and conflicts by examining the contradiction between the principle of freedom of marriage under the 1950 Marriage Law and the common practice of "no marriage between members of the same clan", and the conflict between eugenic policy and freedom of marriage in the 1980 Marriage Law. The root of these contradictions is the fact that Chinese kinship and Western kingship classifications are incompatible. Chinese kinship categorization is based on the social "clan surnames" system rather than the biological "sex" system, and the traditional social practice of no marriage within the same clan and marriage between cousins (except paternal parallel cousins) is due to the kinship system's emphasis on internal relations over external ones rather than on male over female preference. Nowadays, with the abolition of change of surnames for women after marriage, the traditionally external (e.g. maternal) relatives can now be regarded as internal relatives, the "no marriage within the same clan" can be applied to both clans. The eugenic reason for prohibiting marriage of collateral relatives within three generations and the etiquette reason for the no-marriage within the same clans can go hand in hand now because eugenics serves the continuation of the clan. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Psychological Construction of “Stability”: A Historical Narrative of the Collective Identity and Mobility Trend of Middle-aged and Elderly Teachers in Rural Areas LI Caihong, ZHU Zhiyong Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 139-166.   Abstract （543）   HTML （38）    PDF（pc） （3347KB）（600）       Knowledge map    Save This paper takes Wu Primary School, a former state-owned farm school in eastern Inner Mon golia, as a case study to explore the mobility trend of rural middle-aged and elderly teachers, its characteristics and causes during the time of rapid urbanization. The study attempts to gain a deep understanding of the life choices of this generation of teachers under multiple situations from the perspective of historical changes and regional development. The study found that after many years of hardship, middle-aged and elderly teachers on state-owned farms had derived a collective identity that included three elements:survival security identity, emotional identity and attachment, and professional efficacy and self-identity. This triadic identity was based on the cross-construction of institutional identity, legal identity, and professional identity, emerged in the historical process of market reform of farming, farming units, and education system of state-owned farms. Such a collective identity reflected the value tendency and emotional belonging of members in a close social community, with collective status as the carrier, integrating collective interest, consciousness and emotional connection. In the end, in a paradoxical way the triadic collective identity promoted the construction of a psychological mechanism with "stability" as the core for this group of middle-aged and elderly teachers, forming a collective preference of remaining in the countryside and characteristics of attachment, and therefore revealing another side of abnormality that has received little attention in the field of rural teacher mobility. With the ongoing urbanisation in China, this"stable" psychological mechanism has great significance in promoting and improving the professional development of rural teachers and the quality of rural education. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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What is Mingfen? A Study of Status Based on Indigenous Perspective ZHAI Xuewei Chinese Journal of Sociology    2024, 44 (6): 1-30.   Abstract （1085）   HTML （46）    PDF（pc） （3100KB）（534）       Knowledge map    Save In modern social science research, a indigenous concept is often replaced by modern disciplinary concepts， making it difficult to bring its meaning and its research framework to light. Mingfen is a concept that has been replaced by hierarchy， role， identity， and norms of behavior， so much so that the academic interpretation of the concept remains shallow. Compared to these conceptual combinations， the meaning of Mingfen needs to be understood within its own conceptual combination. This paper therefore argues that in this regard Mingfen is the operationalization of ritual and etiquette， and that its purpose is to establish a matching hierarchy of superiority and inferiority in real vertical relationships in order to maintain daily order. Examining roles or identities， their commonality is based on “self-identity”， while the operation of Mingfen requires establishing “field-identity” in political and social context and reality. What is meant by “field-identity” is that social members can regard the power relationships and interactive situations in different fields as a unified whole， so that different identities and roles can be comprehensively ranked in this system. This is possible because Li （ritual） has a holistic cognitive aspect， and the hierarchical ordering of its ranks is provided by the ideal of Tian Di Jun Qin Shi（Heaven， Earth， Monarch， Parents， and Teacher）. The emergence of “field-identity” leads individuals to form a cognitive panorama of power relationships in the whole interactions due to their simultaneous confrontation with multiple roles. It enables an individual to clearly understand their own course of action and the appropriateness of their behavior on the one hand， and on the other hand to have a comprehensive understanding of the hierarchy of every individual， thereby leading their words and deeds to be less self-centered and more dependent on their status sequence and power. This interconnected pattern， although it achieves the expected order， stability， and harmony， also constitutes various potential power struggles in the field-identity. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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“Pricing” Injuries: Practice of Commensuration in Medical Injury Disputes ZHANG Long Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 112-138.   Abstract （484）   HTML （53）    PDF（pc） （2794KB）（524）       Knowledge map    Save Existing studies on medical injury compensation often focus on institutional arrangement or financial outcomes. They are lack of sufficient attention to the micro-social processes that determine compensations, especially the tension between the different kinds of losses and the quantitative outcomes of resolution. Based on the fieldwork in a dispute resolution department of a public city hospital in northern China, this study presents the comprehensive medical injury compensation "pricing" processes under different channels. The paper argues that the crucial parts in medical injury disputes inevitably involve commensuration, a social process by which different factors are being quantified onto the same scale. By introducing the concept of commensurative practice, this study depicts the formation of compensation amounts as an accumulative process of multiple micro-based commensurative practices. The study finds that the commensurative practices in medical injury disputes are usually unfolded in three dimensions:value (integration of values), cognitive (simplification of information) and technical (accuracy of measurement). There are two factors affecting specific ways of commensuration that can cause dimensional shifts. On one hand, the less institutionalized the interaction context, the more prominent the value dimension in the commensurative practice, while the more institutionalized interaction context most likely results in more cognitive and technical commensuraition. On the other hand, the more directly commensurative practices target the "incommensurable" or "not easily commensurable" attributes, the more prominent the dimension of value commensuration, while the attributes of what is considered "commensurable" or "easily commensurable" are more often accompanied by cognitive and technical commensuration. The main focus of this study is to present as well as compare commensurative practices of "incommensurables" under the channels of different institutionalisation. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Constitution of Nomos-Harmonia Civilization: A Preliminary Exploration of a Social Theory of Nature-Culture WU Fei Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 1-21.   Abstract （610）   HTML （73）    PDF（pc） （1899KB）（512）       Knowledge map    Save In this paper, the author argues that, in contrast to the city-state civilization of ancient Greece and the social civilization of the modern West, traditional China has formed a kind of nomos-harmonia civilization, and it is constituted through the theory of nature-culture(wenzhi lun). Zhi is nature and Wen is civilization. It sees culture as internal to nature, an expression of intrinsic essence of nature. Hence civilization origins from nature and cannot transcend, change or destroy nature. Whether it is nature-oriented or culture-oriented, it is fundamentally a kind of culture. How could such a theory constitute nomos-harmonia civilization? The author first discusses about ritual and ceremony, which are used to formulate human feelings. Then comes the nomos system referring to a variety of systems at the social and political level, and nevertheless its constituent principle is the same as ritual and ceremony. On this level of nomos, affection is nature, and order is culture. The collective life of human society is not artificial constitution, but has its foundation in nature. Some basic human relationships are natural, especially that of parents and offspring. Order is found in such a relationship, upon which human civilizations are established. Hence the state is not a necessary evil, or a social contract, or a violent machine, but a cultural transformation of a natural community. Like Western social theories, wenzhi lun (nature-culture theory) does not regard the state as the highest human institute, and hence it should be treated as a social theory. Also similar to the Greek political philosophy, wenzhi lun origins from and returns back to nature. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Centralized State yet Decentralized Governance: On Gu Yanwu's Mixed System Theory CAO Zhenghan Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 22-55.   Abstract （497）   HTML （35）    PDF（pc） （3128KB）（500）       Knowledge map    Save In his book Discourse on Junxian, Gu Yanwu proposed a famous reform theory that introduced the principle of feudal autonomy within the framework of a centralized state, forming a hybrid system of "embedding the spirit of feudalism (fengjian) in the structure of prefectures and counties (junxian)". Contemporary scholars generally view this mixed system theory as a theory of the relationship between central and local governments or as a theory of local decentralization or "local autonomy", with the aim of achieving a balance between centralization and decentralization. However, there has been insufficient discussion on the meaning of centralization and decentralization in this mixed system theory, as well as the ways and conditions to achieve a balance between the two. This article argues that Gu Yanwu's mixed system theory is not only a theory of the relationship between central and local governments, nor is it just a theory of local decentralization, it is also a theory that deals with the relationship between "centralized state" and "governance", especially the contradiction between the two. The core idea of this theory can be summarized as "centralized state yet decentralized governance". The purpose of this article is to demonstrate this viewpoint and further explore the underlying meaning and source of the principle of "centralized state yet decentralized governance", as well as its implementation mechanisms and institutional conditions. This article points out that the principle of "centralized state yet decentralized governance" is reflected to some extent in the traditional governance system and practices in Chinese history, and is also implicitly presented in the reform thoughts in the 1980s in China. This means that the development of historical China and the modernization transformation of contemporary China are, to some extent, unfolding in the process of exploring and dealing with the contradiction between "centralized state" and "governance". Therefore, Gu Yanwu's mixed system theory and its underlying principle still have theoretical significance for China's exploration of the path to modernization. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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A Discussion on "People-centeredness is an Essential Characteristic of the Practice of Chinese-style Modernization" Feizhou ZHOU, Jun WEN, Xuejing CHEN, Tianfu WANG, Li ZHENG Chinese Journal of Sociology    2025, 45 (1): 1-56.   Abstract （425）   HTML （84）    PDF（pc） （5721KB）（422）       Knowledge map    Save Table and Figures | Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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For Whom Do Views Change: The Influence of Child Gender on Parents' Recognition of Filial Piety Jiaqing YU, Anning HU, Sen XUE Chinese Journal of Sociology    2025, 45 (1): 203-223.   Abstract （439）   HTML （38）    PDF（pc） （2882KB）（388）       Knowledge map    Save While research on filial piety often emphasizes the unidirectional relationship from children to parents, intergenerational ties are inherently bidirectional. Changes in parental recognition of filial piety ethics not only illuminate their role expectations of their children but also serves as an important entry point for understanding the overall changes in traditional Chinese filial piety. This study proposes a family analysis framework that incorporates gender roles to explore the micro-foundation and social context underpinning the transformation of filial piety in China. Drawing on data from the 2014 China Family Panel Studies(CFPS), we leverage the exogenous variation in firstborn gender to identify its causal effects on parental binary filial piety recognition. On average, parents of daughters exhibit weaker endorsement of authoritarian filial piety yet show stronger recognition of reciprocal filial piety compared to parents of sons. This pattern arises from two key mechanisms. First, daughters' post-marital patrilocal residence disrupts traditional intergenerational co-residence arrangements, thereby diminishing parental adherence to authoritarian filial piety norms. Second, adult daughters are more likely to provide caregiving support during their parents'illnesses, fulfilling emotional expectations for affection and fostering greater parental recognition of reciprocal filial piety. Additionally, the declining fertility rates over the past four decades have brought about a significant shift in the gender composition of children, with families only having daughters becoming increasingly more common. Given that parents with only daughters exhibit lower recognition of authoritarian filial piety, this helps explain why there has been a decline in societal recognition of traditional filial piety ethics. By analyzing the changes in parental role expectations and ethical recognition, this study not only sheds light on the mechanisms driving the transformation and development of traditional Chinese culture but also offers a deeper understanding of the reconstruction of family ethics in the context of fertility transition. Table and Figures | Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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"Living a Normal Life": HIV Antiretroviral Therapy and the Construction of Daily Life of Infected People Zeyu HUANG, Yingying HUANG Chinese Journal of Sociology    2025, 45 (1): 57-88.   Abstract （414）   HTML （64）    PDF（pc） （3353KB）（309）       Knowledge map    Save From the perspective of medical anthropology and based on interviews and observations of people living with HIV (PLWH), this article uses "normal" as a core concept to explore how antiretroviral therapy (ART) is involved in the construction of the daily lives of PLWH through the creation of "normalcy", and how these people cope with a standardized "normal life" through their own life practices. In this process, the HIV governance system considers the creation of a "normal body" that conforms to medical standards as its primary goal to ensure the overall safety of society with ART as a normalizing and transforming means for infected people. To this end, the governance system utilizes ethics and law to frame the acceptance of ART as the responsibility and obligation of PLWH that will lead them to a "normal future". This has made accepting ART a spontaneous choice for the infected individuals. However, when the "normality" envisioned by people living with HIV clashes with what the governance system seeks to impose, various difficulties arose in their lives. The governance system sees these aberrations as a necessary path to "normalcy", thus the infected person must endure them in order to "live a normal life". PLWH must have wondered what "normal life" is for, but in order to continue their treatment, they must construct a version of "normal life" that differs from the norm, or even deviates from it according to the logic of their own life, which is inevitably full of the traces of medicine and technology. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Between the Ancient and the Modern: Changes in Father-Son Ethics and the Imagination of the May 4th Movement on Family:Reinterpreting Lu Xun's “How Shall We Be Fathers Now” SUN Yaotian Chinese Journal of Sociology    2024, 44 (6): 65-96.   Abstract （669）   HTML （17）    PDF（pc） （3731KB）（256）       Knowledge map    Save Because of the historical characteristic of organising society through ethics， China’s modernity began with the family revolution. Among the many discussions on family revolution in the late Qing and early Republican period， Lu Xun’s “How Shall We Be Fathers Now” not only focused on father-son ethics， but also represented the worldview and historical consciousness of the May Fourth revolutionaries. Inspired by Nietzsche and the theory of biological evolution， Lu Xun asked the “father” to utilize subjective initiatives and advocated for the “position of the youngster”. At the same time， Lu Xun emphasized the significance of social transformation for the reconstruction of the family， and his understanding of “society” was further related to the decline of nationalism and the rise of the consciousness of “humanity” after the First World War. Lu Xun’s emphasis on “love” carried forward the context of the family revolution in the late Qing， and it also reflected the influence from Japanese Birchen writers such as Saneatsu Mushakoji and Arishima Takeo， etc. He tried to counter the increasingly rigid and formalized rituals since the Ming and Qing Dynasties， thus breaking through the inherent paradox of filial piety. Lu Xun criticized the traditional father-son ethics as being infested with authoritarianism and utilitarianism， and had long since lost its intrinsic value. In this regard， he advocated for a return to the natural， humane and sensual dimension of ethics， and extended the temporal direction of the future in an optimistic imagination of life evolution. Lu Xun reframed the father-son ethics with life as its essence， which made his revolutionary discourse on the family subversive， but also created a dilemma for the individual in his overarching vision. In general， Lu Xun responded to the propositions of the times with his own experiences and his identity as a “father”， presenting a dialogue as well as tension between the past and the present. Among other things， his emphasis on the initiative of father-son ethics and his imagination of a mutually supportive society are still instructive for today’s discussions on family issues. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Acquaintance Relationship, Moral Judgment and Market Price Competition: A Case Study of the Home Lodging Operation in Xi Village, Henan Province Congcong LUO Chinese Journal of Sociology    2025, 45 (1): 89-115.   Abstract （316）   HTML （47）    PDF（pc） （2923KB）（233）       Knowledge map    Save In the context of rural revitalization, how the rural home lodging market is priced in an orderly manner affects the high-quality development of the rural tourism industry. With the help of a case study on the pricing of rural home lodging in Xi Village, Henan Province, this paper investigates how the acquaintance society can curb market-driven low-price competition. The research reveals that the moral judgment mechanism within acquaintance relationships plays a regulatory role in the formation of competitive pricing order. This mechanism, through processes of publicization and moralization, employs methods such as discussion, gossip, reduced interaction, and non-cooperation to encourage orderly pricing among operators. Specifically, it maintains price differentiation between different types of lodgings, upscale lodgings do not engage in low-price competition to undermine the interests of other operators. Lodgings of the same type agree upon and abide by a price floor, preventing the interests of the majority and the collective from being harmed by the price-lowering actions of a single operator. The specific process of moral judgment involves villagers, within their acquaintance relationships, using mutual discussions and seeking intermediaries to convey messages, thereby turning judgment of certain individuals into a collective consensus of the village. On the basis of this consensus, villagers exert substantial pressure by reducing their interactions with the persons being judged, by not cooperating with them, and not acknowledging their position and status, and so on. The reciprocal norms of shared benefits and mutual care internalised in Chinese acquaintance society, embodied in the dual dimensions of livelihood and daily life, provide a moral foundation for the modulation of price competition through moral judgment. This paper elucidates the mechanisms of moral judgment and its dynamic interplay with market forces, revealing the moral connotation and Chinese characteristics inherent in rural market competition order. It offers significant insights for advancing rural revitalization and Chinese-style modernization. Table and Figures | Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Advantage Accumulation or Resource Complementarity? A Study of the Spatial Differentiation of First-Time Homeowners of Shanghai Local Residents from an Intergenerational Perspective MU Xueying, CUI Can, LU Tingting, CHANG Heying Chinese Journal of Sociology    2024, 44 (6): 194-216.   Abstract （677）   HTML （31）    PDF（pc） （2689KB）（225）       Knowledge map    Save Over the past forty years， China’s housing market reforms have rapidly reshaped urban spatial structures and deepened social-spatial differentiation. Simultaneously， the homeownership rate in China has risen dramatically. Against the backdrop of high homeownership rate and the increasingly significant spatial polarization of the housing market， the differentiation of owner-occupied housing location has become a key lens for understanding housing inequality. This study emphasizes the significance of residential location， focusing on residents in Shanghai as a case study. By integrating Points of Interest（POI） data with questionnaire surveys， we explore the degree of advantages， the factors influencing the property location of first-time buyers， and especially the influence of family background， a factor that is often overlooked in previous research. The findings reveal a distinct spatial gradient in locational advantage， which declines from the city center toward the periphery at a gradually diminishing rate. The distribution of locational advantage among first-time homeowners in Shanghai follows an inverted U-shape， with lower values at both extremes and higher values in the middle. The model results show that residents， whose parents are of higher education levels and superior economic status， and work in the public sector， are more likely to be located in an advantageous location. However， parental homeownership seems to impede their children from gaining homeownership at a more advantageous location because the younger generation tends to trade better locations for “newer and bigger” homes further away. The study also finds that the inhibitory effect of parental homeownership exacerbates if parents work in public sectors. The findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of intergenerational support in housing location differentiation， providing a crucial perspective for understanding social stratification. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Technology Disembedding in the Process of Agricultural Transformation： A Study on Extension and Application of Plant Protection Technology in Ji County MEI Jingzhe, DAI Yousheng Chinese Journal of Sociology    2024, 44 (4): 57-86.   Abstract （440）   HTML （23）    PDF（pc） （3077KB）（214）       Knowledge map    Save This paper attempts to explore the shifting relationship between farmers and agricultural technology in the process of agricultural transformation， taking into account the technological application difficulties faced by farmers in agricultural production. Based on the case study of Ji County in Hebei Province， this paper suggests that agricultural technology promotion has gone through three stages：namely， the state led stage during the collectivization period， the grassroots agricultural market-driven stage during the reform period， and the new agricultural management entities during the agricultural transformation period. Respectively， agricultural technology has been linked to the rural society and applied to agricultural production through three forms of organization-embedded， market-embedded， and capital embedded. However， the embedded relationship between agricultural technology and rural society is not necessarily realized through farmers’mastery and application of agricultural technology. When the promotion of plant protection technology is implemented through new agricultural management entities in the form of projects， agricultural technology has realised its transfer and redistribution from farmers to new management entities， and farmers have become increasingly disconnected from agricultural technology. On the one hand， by reconstructing farmers’ practical technology and raising the threshold of acquiring modern agricultural technology， the substitution of professional knowledge for practical knowledge has been accomplished. On the other hand， by increasing support for machinery purchase and project operation for new farm management entities， traditional services centred on mutual assistance and reciprocity among friends and acquaintance have been continuously squeezed out， reducing technical services to purely economic behaviors and substituting social relations with economic relations. The social and knowledge disembedding of agricultural technology has led to a disconnection of both technology and technology services from farmers. The agricultural technology modernization can not be separated from the agricultural modernization of farmers. Attention should be paid to the technological needs of small farmers， and the reconstruction of a socialised system of agricultural services with farmers as its core， and ultimately the modernization of agriculture and rural China with peasants as the subject. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Rediscovering "Nature": The Threefold Transformation of the Yenching School's Sociological Tradition of Community Studies before the Anti-Japanese War Yuanyuan LIU Chinese Journal of Sociology    2025, 45 (1): 172-202.   Abstract （301）   HTML （41）    PDF（pc） （3192KB）（208）       Knowledge map    Save The discussion of the Yenching school, as an object of study in the history of sociology, is far from over. In the midst of the transformation of Chinese society, different generations of Yenching sociologists went deep into the countryside and suburbs, market towns and border regions, and produced a number of classic community studies that had become everlasting traditions.This paper follows the trajectory of the discipline of sociology at Yenching University to present the threefold transformation of the Yenching sociological community studies prior to the Anti-Japanese War. The early sociological studies at Yenching were shrouded in the God's perspective of "one unity of religion and society" and were devoted to social reconstruction. Then from the time of Xu Shilian, the view became that the closer the research methods of sociology were to natural science, the more developed sociology would become. The town of Ching Ho, as a social laboratory, initiated the original tradition of "regional" studies, in which the control of "nature" was seen as a measure of social progress. The third academic shift came when Wu Wenzao incorporated the theoretical shift towards human ecology with functional analysis, and thereby "culture", a social constancy that cannot be controlled, became the focus of community studies. When "function" replaced "causality", "comparative method" replaced "experimental method", "the natural history of society" replaced the previous simple and mechanical "historical reconstruction of society", it marked the establishment of sociology as a discipline truly different from natural science.In this process, natural science and social science were never rivals to each other, and the community studies tradition of the Yenching school was never detached from nature in the process of transforming it, but rather they were built on the foundation of nature to approach step by step the cultural analysis of "human beings" themselves. Table and Figures | Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Living Homesteaders: The Image of Peasants in Cato Young's Early Theory (1927-1937) Yeguang CHEN Chinese Journal of Sociology    2025, 45 (1): 143-171.   Abstract （181）   HTML （14）    PDF（pc） （3057KB）（202）       Knowledge map    Save Based on the discussion of the peasantry in Cato Young's early theory(1927-1937), this paper attempts to show that through the translation of his theoretical foundation according to Butterfield and the Rural Life Movement, Cato Young constructed his own theoretical image of the peasant based on the archetype of the "propertied farmer" of rural North China. In his view, these farmers tried their best to maintain a life "balance" in their day-to-day life and work, while the emotional fluctuations caused by the lingering "daily troubles" constantly shaped their practical mentality and therefore planted the seeds of innovation in it. Cato Young saw in this type of peasant the potential for local autonomy and industrial modernization, and thus proposed a vision of political reform and economic development programs based on this subject. This emphasis on the subjectivity of the peasants in fact continued an intellectual undercurrent in modern Chinese intellectual history, which had taken the "people" as the main subject in examining the state system. It also provided a theoretical basis for a dialogue with the modern tradition of peasantry. This paper argues that this image of the peasant in Young's early theory is noticeably localized and it can provide a new perspective for understanding peasant life and rural practice in contemporary China. In addition, by examining three theoretical "mistranslations", this paper analyzes the Western origin of this peasant image and Cato Young's efforts to localize it in the process, thus contributing to the construction of a broader theoretical communication foundation for early Chinese sociological theory. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Making of Consent to Produce AI: Labour Organisation Forms and Control Mechanisms in Data Annotating Industry Hui HUANG Chinese Journal of Sociology    2025, 45 (2): 1-31.   Abstract （274）   HTML （29）    PDF（pc） （3331KB）（195）       Knowledge map    Save The rapid proliferation of generative AI models has sparked critical inquiry into the hidden precarious labour infrastructures that help sustaining their performance. This article draws on ethnographic research conducted in three Chinese AI companies to examine how the production of large-scale models is made possible through intensive, low-paid and precarious data work. It argues that AI production is underpinned by a project-based labour regime structured with insourcing, outsourcing and crowdsourcing as its main organizational forms. The regime has systematically weakened the autonomy of labor, exacerbated the instability of labor, and presented significant characteristics of labor alienation. Rather than overt resistance, workers tend to display consent and acceptance of precarious conditions. In order to conceal the essence of its labor exploitation, capital employs three main strategies of normative control to exert hegemonic power over labor in order to create "willingness" on the part of labor. This study explores how such consent is being actively produced. Gamification mechanisms reframe exploitative work as cognitively stimulating and competitive; task modularisation and fast-changing project cycles lead to cyclical deskilling, curbing worker leverage and occupational mobility; and the symbolic valorisation of AI work fosters a sense of meaning and belonging in otherwise marginal roles. These mechanisms operate as technologies of consent, embedding hegemonic control within the everyday organisation of AI labour. This paper uncovers the paradoxical reality in contemporary AI production: how capital manufactures consent to "make human work like machines so that machines can appear more human". The findings extend classic labour process theory and contribute to a deeper understanding of labour organisation and control mechanisms in the age of artificial intelligence. Table and Figures | Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）