Table of Content

20 January 2019, Volume 39 Issue 1

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Case Studies towards the Analysis of Total Social Construction

QU Jingdong

2019, 39(1):  1-36. 

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Case study is an irreplaceable sociological strategy for research on social construction. Different from either hypothesis tests or descriptive accounts of social life, case study aims to make a long chain of interpretations from a typical case to the construction of the whole society, by linkages of concrete people, conditions and situations in a case with other related social, political, and cultural elements all the way through. In other words, the case is not only influenced by the policies made by central or local governments in different levels from above, but also located in grassroots customs and mores at bottom.
To find these multiple relations horizontally and vertically clustered in a case study, various methods of -graphy must be used, such as geography, cartography, demography, historiography, biography, autobiography, lexicography, and ethnography finally. But at the same time, all these elements and their relations should be activated by eventalization happened in daily life.
Through the ways of stimulation of abnormal process or sublimation of normal rituals in eventalization, the complicated, correlative, and sustainable relationships among social elements are presented as many social mechanisms in different dimensions. On all accounts, the whole scene of society will be opened out as a solid structure by the various points (events), lines (linkages), and plane (mechanism) in three dimensions, as Max Weber said, "the causal relations in sociological research would be satisfied as a special explanatory demonstration".

Return Life to Society: Biography as a Narrative of the Whole

ZHAO Bingxiang

2019, 39(1):  37-70. 

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Biography is a unique way of narration in ethnography and historiography. This paper attempts to position the works of Lin Yaohua in the context of the sociological and anthropological debates since the 1920s,and by doing so,explores the potentials of biographical method in the study of Chinese history and society. Although Lin was a bearer of the biographical tradition of Chinese literature and history,his works were also deeply influenced by both the narrative method of life history in America and the social life studies in France. In addition to the two influential western biographical traditions,anthropologists in Britain developed the genealogical method in their investigation of sacred kingship. This study regards these three traditions of individual life biography,social life studies,and genealogical methods as "biography triangle". Relevant works in contemporary Chinese sociology and anthropology are reviewed under this framework. It is conceivable that phenomenological description alone is not sufficient when applying the biographical method. One must take into consideration of the Chinese centralized power and the overall social structure. Only by placing life biography against the everchanging process of society can it turn individual stories into powerful narratives depicting the whole structure of Chinese social life.

The Power of the Sociological Ethnography: Revisiting Some Fieldwork of Early Social Research

TIAN Geng

2019, 39(1):  71-97. 

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Since about the 1970s, sociological ethnographers have incorporated much of the traditional humanistic approaches into their fieldworks and narrative writings, and in so doing, have expanded the boundary of ethnography. This development, however, has not dissolved the tension facing sociological ethnographers between depicting the intensely first-hand experiences and theorizing them simultaneously. This paper proposes a historical as well as theoretical approach to understand this recurring tension. It is argued that the social researchers of some very important fieldwork conducted between the late 19^th century and the end of the WWI conflated moral visions into their ethnographical inquiries. These early researchers sought out direct observations of the social world but, each in his own ways, managed to epitomize their subject matters and,during the process, offered a new structure of sentiment that added experiential valor to the normative sensibility characteristic of their times. The moral dimension of the early fieldwork enriches our understanding of the progressive morality. It is therefore argued that a serious exploration of the linkages between the empirical study, the structure of feeling and the moral reformation is crucial for the critical examination of the existing knowledge about the growth of sociological ethnography as well as the progressive morality itself.

Understanding Qualitative Methods by Intellectual History Approach: A Focus on the Construction of Meaning in Research Context

LUO Yinan

2019, 39(1):  98-128. 

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This article argues that the intellectual history approach generates new ways for understanding qualitative research. The approach focuses on the processes,in which the meanings of qualitative methods emerge in concrete contexts, and thus enables the researcher to interpret such meanings from authors' writings that claim the legitimacy of the methods in application. Through an in-depth discussion of three methodological perspectives,this article shows how the intellectual history approach can deepen our understanding of qualitative methods by shifting our focus from the taken-for-granted meaning structures bestowed outwardly,to the mechanism by which the concrete meanings emerge,alter and are retained within the subjective world of the authors. These concreate meanings can be seen as an outcome of the researchers' intention to reconcile the enduring insufficiency of methodological designs with the actual changing situation that they intend to explain in the real world. This article thus brings back the issue of meanings to the current discussion of qualitative methods. It is argued that theexisting discussion tends to emphasize either the normative or the structural dimension of qualitative methods while ignores the concrete and fluid meanings of those methods as well as the contexts that produce them. With this in mind, the article suggests a new direction for understanding qualitative research.

The Methodological Foundation of Case Research: Exploring Qu's Novel Ideas over Case Selection, Case Study and Theory Building

KENG Shu

2019, 39(1):  129-152. 

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This paper is a response to Jingdong Qu's paper on the methods of case research. Its goal is two-fold:on the one hand,the paper seeks to make sense of Qu's novel ideas concerning the positivist methodology and thereby to stimulate further dialogues between the positivists and interpretivists;on the other hand,it aims at translating Qu's innovative suggestions into practical strategies as guidance for case research. Given the stated goal,the paper organizes its discussion in three sections of case selection,case study and theory building. The discussion offers a comparison of Qu's approach to the typical positivist as well as interpretative approach to highlight the differences among the three. For instance,regarding case selection,the paper explores the significance of existing knowledge and relevant "typical cases" as a strategy of case selection. In regard to case research,the paper discusses the limitations of the small-N plus context-sensitive nature of case research and then evaluates the merits of "multiple approaching" and "event metaphor",the two research strategies proposed by Qu. In conclusion,the paper strongly concurs with Qu's emphasis on "locating mechanisms" and "discovering structures",but also points out the inherent predisposition toward structuralism (or the sociological bias) in Qu's proposal of case methods. Echoing Qu's call,this study serves to help establish the methodological legitimacy of case research and bring together the positivists and interpretivists for further exchange and collaboration.

From Tripartite Division of Social Functions to Binary Alliance: Political Genesis Hypothesis in Dumézil's Study of the Indo-European Civilization

ZHANG Yuan

2019, 39(1):  153-183. 

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Among the reviews on Dumézil's theory on the political genesis, little attention has been paid to his later transition from discussing the tripartite division of social functions to binary alliance. To comprehend the theoretical implication of this transition, this paper relies mostly on the analyses of his later works, especially the book From Myth to Fiction:The Saga of Hadingus. Under the influence of both Marcel Mauss' and Marcel Granet's theories and approaches, Dumézil sought out the sociological theories and political principles formulated by the hierarchical solidarity and sovereignty embedded in the Indo-European myths. To illustrate how the Indo-European civilization builds up its ideal society, Dumézil first proposes that the tripartite division of social functions is the core of the hierarchical solidarity in the Indo-European civilization. Later, through further comparisons of different myths in the Indo-European world, he comes to the realization that the hierarchical solidarity is generated by binary alliance while the tripartite division of social functions is nothing more than an outcome of binary alliance. By introducing the concept of ‘alliance’ into the analysis on the structure and logic of the mechanism of the state, Dumezil finally arrives at a framework for modern social sciences to comparatively analyze three major social types:tribal societies, classical civilizations as well as modern polities. In this sense, Dumézil's theory on political genesis goes beyond the classical studies' narrow presupposition of polities and divine kinship in the Indo-European civilization. Its application also expands beyond the traditional anthropological analyses on the alliance and chiefdom in "primitive" societies. Thus, Dumézil's theories and approaches can provide a stimulating perspective for the Chinese studies of humanities and social sciences..

Seeking Scientific Knowledge of the Society: Saint-Simon's Social Physiology

NI Yuzhen

2019, 39(1):  184-210. 

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Faced with the post-French Revolution crises, the French thinkers of the early nineteenth century began turning away from the theory of natural rights and started paying much more attention to the social aspects of the society. As a result, social theories flourished. Saint-Simon, one of these social theorists, continued the efforts of Condorcet and the Ideologues to found social science and coined the term of "social physiology" as a science of social organization. Saint-Simon attached importance to the study of real people and concrete social facts, not the imaginary natural state. He was critical of the Enlightenment abstract notion of individual prevailing at the time. With the application of the new scientific knowledge in physiology and history, he attempted to reveal the social attributes of man and the significance of organization and social work in the development of human intelligence. Inspired by the Ideologues, Saint-Simon considered the society as an organism. He analyzed the relationship of the three social forces:the men of property, the proletarians and the savants. According to him, these different parts of the society should cooperate to constitute a harmonious unity. In his views, society cannot be understood with some snapshot studies and historical change is at heart of society. Through his study of historical facts and relations between these facts, Saint-Simon uncovered the dynamic mechanism of the European social history. Upon this basis, Saint-Simon proposed his preliminary ideas of social organization. The social theory of Saint-Simon merged together the kernels of social science and socialism. It helped France step out of the Revolution mood to begin reconstruction. Saint-Simon left us a legacy of dual spiritual heritages:fraternity and compassion for social sufferings as well as a rational scientific social science based on facts for social change.

Dialect Competence,Language Environment and Urban Migration Entrepreneurship

YANG Ye, ZHU Chen, TAN Yi

2019, 39(1):  211-236. 

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In China,language has the dual attributes of "communication" and "culture". On the one hand,good communication skills not only help businessmen grasp information accurately but also help them impress creditors to secure external financing.On the other hand, local dialect competence help promote shared identity and facilitate local social networking to gain access to business resources and ease business transactions. This paper applies the social identity theory to explore the important role of the cultural attributes of language in migrant entrepreneurial behaviors. The data is drawn from the Chinese Family Panel Survey Data (CFPS). The regulation effect of language environment is analyzed through indicators of linguistic diversity and popularity of Mandarin.The study finds that after controlling the "communication attributes" of the language, the "cultural attributes" of the language increased the probability of migrants' entrepreneurship by 1.8%. The outcome is consistently presented even after applying the "twin" sample to overcome potential selectivity bias and endogeneity. The study also finds that the significance of the "cultural attributes" of language affects the migrant group with "low material capital" but is not visible with the group with "high material capital", an indication that social capital of shared cultural identityis used to compensate for the lack of material capital.Also,areas with less linguistic diversity and a lower level of Mandarin usage see more effects of the "cultural attributes" of language in migrants' start-up business decisions,however, such attributes have no impact on business income.This study enriches the existing research on language behaviors by making a link between language and entrepreneurship that reveals the important role of "cultural attributes" of language in migrants' business behaviors.