Table of Content

20 January 2017, Volume 37 Issue 1

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A Genealogy of Modern Confession: Confessor and Life World(I)

SUN Feiyu

2017, 37(1):  1-32. 

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By examining the phenomenon of modern confessor, this paper attempts to reach a better understanding of the term of "life world" as well as of modern sociology as a phenomenon. Paul Ricoeur's application of phenomenology to explain psychoanalysis is discussed in order to construct a framework of confession analysis in the history of social thoughts. Ricoeur dealt with the affinity in theory and methodology between Husserl's phenomenology and Freudian psychoanalysis, nevertheless he did so as a philosopher, not a social theorist. Foucault's analysis of confession phenomenon is also examined for the purpose of concentrating our discussion of confession under the theoretical tradition of classical psychoanalysis. Foucault considered confession as a subject that could uncover the relation between Subjectivity and Truth under modernity. Foucault was interested in the question of whether phenomenology could be explored for understanding irrationality, which for him was the key issue of understanding modern humans. Foucault centered his confession discussion on sexuality, circling us back to Freudian psychoanalysis. From there, the paper examines the free association method in Freudian conversation therapy and its theoretical background. A comparison of Freud's conversation therapy and Husserl's works is then made to gain a phenomenological and sociological understanding of Freudian confession.

Historical Individual and Universal History: Social Changes in the Context of Historicism

LI Rongshan

2017, 37(1):  33-60. 

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Historicism, originated in Germany in the 18th century, holds a view that universal history can be interpreted as a course from historical individuals to historical individuals, therefore, the main task of historical social research is to reveal changes from historical individuals to historical individuals, especially during the transitional shifts of great ages, to uncover the meaning of our universal cultural history. This unique view of history was developed by criticizing the French Enlightenment thinkers. Viewing individuals from the viewpoint of an atomic entity, the French Enlightenment saw history both linear and progressive. In contrast, German historicists, with the view of individuals as a monadic entity, articulated a set of progressive development theory of history. German historicism at first gave an impression of a providential view of history but gradually it shed off such an appearance and evolved into a distinctive social change theory under the tradition of interpretive sociology. The uniqueness of historicism has two aspects:on one hand, it rejected theology-a major feature of the early philosophies of history; and on the other hand, as empirical science, unlike the natural science based positivism that focused on uniform changes, it stressed the unique diversity of historical changes. Since the de-historization of Max Weber in social theory, this type of social change theory in interpretive sociology has disappeared. One of the crises facing the field of contemporary social theory is the gradual loss of its ability to confront "big issues", an endeavor that can only be accomplished by embracing historical perspectives. It is in awareness of this crisis, this paper offers a study of the history of historicism since Herder and its unique social change theory.

Transformation of Tradition and Reconstruction of Individual: Robinson Crusoe’s Departure, Reform and Return

YANG Lu

2017, 37(1):  61-93. 

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Daniel Defoe was one of the great thinkers of the early modern period. His first fiction, Robinson Crusoe, is not a mere narration of adventures but an attempt to find a way out of the dilemma of modern individuals. Defoe witnessed the moral degeneration in society from Skepticism, Deism to Atheism at the end of the 17th century. Men neither observed their obedience to God, nor to their own fathers and other social authorities. Defoe's Robinson Crusoe was a man who was willful and possessed very few notions of religion, and who left home against the wishes of his parents in pursuit of sea adventure. After years of hardship in a desolate island, Robinson had his transformation and returned to society as a sociable and religious tradesman. By reviewing Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, this paper attempts to examine the spiritual crisis afflicting the West in the early modern times. In Defoe's view, confronted with the decline of Christianity, man could hardly be able to treat his families and other fellows with compassion when he could not move his affections with all his heart towards God. Robinson's dilemma was not his own but a reflection of modern mankind's internal tension between rational knowledge and divine revelation. Defoe believed that modern men not only were capable to attend human affairs by way of the cause-effect law but also capable to listen to the voice of Providence in the prodigies of nature. He thought it was not commendable to pursue a common law of exact justice, instead, a chancery law of conscience on principle of equity should be the law that everyone ought to obey. Hence, men's natural inclinations would not be indulged when under the influence of hypochondriac fancies, nor would they be oppressed as vices as by medieval Christianity, instead, they would be carried on in a regular way in the commercial world. Similarly, men's knowledge would not lead to Skepticism or Egoism, on the contrary they would submit themselves to the divine law through conscience. These are the remedies offered by Defoe for the early modern society. Studying Defoe helps us to gain a better understanding of the early modern period as well as the rise of individuality in the West.

Workers,Capital and the State: A Relational Perspective on the Study of Working Class

MAO Dan, ZHANG Hong

2017, 37(1):  94-126. 

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In recent years, the problem of labor and labor-capital conflicts in China has caused deep concerns. Sociologists are confronted with the question of why the typical working class issue of labor-capital clash occurs in frequency in a socialist country but not in the developed capitalist countries. Should this phenomenon be regarded as normal social problems? Or a target area of social class analysis? How much is the relevance of the waning social class analysis of classical sociology to this issue? Through an in-depth literature review this paper suggests a state-centered interpretation that sees class and its conception as relational. The status as well as the nature of the working class has to be analyzed through a triangle relationship between workers, capitalists and the state. In a capitalist society, the state dominates this triangle relationship and is capable of shaping the working class and molding the relationship between labor and capital. The state does not behave merely as the stereotyped spokesman for the dominant class. How the state handles the relation between labor and capital determines the intensity of the conflicts and whether the working class acts as agitators or cooperators. Similarly, whether the sociological class analysis still has its potential in contemporary society is determined by the role and the policies of the state in dealing with the relation between labor and capital. By its action, the state can either help dissolve social antagonism and incorporate the working class into order and cooperation, or provoke workers' opposition. Under the former situation, the significance of sociological class analysis would become much less apparent, however, under the latter, class analysis is not just an appropriate theoretical analytic tool but also has great significance in practice. This perspective is also applicable to the working class issues in socialist countries.

Nationalization Process and Formation of “Shuitian” Yi Ethnicity during Ming and Qing: A Case Study of the Yi Ethnic Group in Bai Luying, Mianning County, Sichuan

LONG Sheng

2017, 37(1):  127-155. 

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This study explores the question of how ethnic groups were assimilated by the imperial state to be placed under the administration of the central government and how their ethnicity changed during this process of nationalization. The Yi ethnic group in Bai Luying of Mianning county, Sichuan province is the case study of this paper. The ancestors of Yi people in Bai Luying used to live in Mountain Daliang before the Wanli reign of Ming dynasty. In the early period of Ming Dynasty, the government had set up Ningfan Garrison on the river valley of the west side of Mountain Daliang. By the late Wanli period, the garrison was consistently attacked by the indigenous people in the area. In order to quell the resistance, the imperial court recruited the Yi people as soldiers to guard the garrison. Afterwards a new settlement of the Yi tribe on the river valley Bai Luying emerged and in its process the Yi people's livelihood was transformed from herding and fishing to agriculture. In the early Qing, the Yi people in Bai Luying were further integrated into the imperial system with the inclusion of chieftains to the imperial governing body. However, up until the late part of Qianlong reign, the Yi kept a relative autonomy of its tribal settlement, power structure and cultural integrity. Late on with the arrival of new migrants, the introduction of "baojia" system and the promotion of new culture and education, the Yi group in Bai Luying gradually lost its independence and began assimilating into the national identity, leading to the formation of "Shuitian" (rice field) Yi ethnicity. The case of "Shuitian" Yi shows that the survival strategy of tribal minorities from hills did not necessarily follow the description of "avoiding becoming part of empires" as suggested by James C. Scott, nor were these ethnic people always slow and passive in integrating with empires. On the contrary the acceptance of the imperial rule had been a survival strategy that helped creating new ethnic groups and at meantime consolidating frontiers for the Ming and Qing empires as well.

Re-Examining “The Conflict of Gods”: A Sociological Structural Perspective

CHI Shuai

2017, 37(1):  156-185. 

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The secularization paradigm and religious marketplace theory are two competing theoretical explanations for religious changes. However,despite of their differences,the two theories are intrinsically connected. This connection can be best understood through the examination of "the Conflict of Gods". This paper first offers a review of the secularization discussion in the West,followed by a discussion of the politic-economical conditions under which the religious changes had occurred. The theoretical analysis of the relationship between religion and social structure presented by both theories demonstrates the importance of the politic-economical structure. Its change is the key to understand the relationship between value rationality and instrumental rationality in religion as well as the mechanism that drives the rationalization of religion in the West. The western religions preserve their value rationality by moving away from the parish dominated political monopoly of the Middle Ages to the religious pluralism of market competition in modern society. This study shows that both secularization paradigm and religious marketplace theory overlook the complex structural differences of value rationality among world religions as discussed by Max Weber in his comparative study of religions. Nevertheless,such an understanding is imperatively important in religious study in today's multifaceted religious world. It also should be noted that the division between religious and secular people and their respective behaviors reflects a structural distinction between elites and masses. Although the marketization of religion has helped in popularizing religion,it does not ease the intensity of the debates on value rationality of religious pluralism,nor it prevents the development of secular humanism,and at the end it is also unable to provide individuals with an overall guidance in today's complicated multi-cultural environment.

Uncertainty of Statistical Models and Propensity Score Methods

HU Anning

2017, 37(1):  186-210. 

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Quantitative sociological research has always employed certain specific statistical models. Over the past several decades, the focus on causal relationship in sociological studies has led to a wide spread application of propensity score methods.Using an explicit estimation of the probability of being subject to a specific treatment or intervention, sociologists are able to mimic random experiments to predict causal effects. In practice, propensity score methods require an estimation from two models:one predicts propensity scores and the other estimates causal effects. However, the model structure and coefficient of both contain considerable uncertainty. This study offers a systematic review of the model structure and coefficient uncertainty in propensity score methods as well ascertain strategies to tackle the issue. By analyzing Monte Carlo's simulated data along with empirical survey statistics, the paper demonstrates how researchers can use Bayesian Model Averaging to select multiple backup models and deal with possible model-coefficient uncertainty with the joint maximum likelihood estimation in propensity score methods. The paper also finds that after taking into account of various sources of uncertainty,the estimated causal effects display a narrower confidence interval but a higher level of statistical efficiency.

Pragmatic Professionalism: Definition of Professional Competence and Its Rationality for Social Workers in Comprehensive Family Service, Guangzhou

LEI Jie, HUANG Wanyi

2017, 37(1):  211-241. 

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The professional competence of social workers is a key determinant in the effectiveness of social services. However, so far there are no clearly defined standards of professional competence for social workers in China. This has affected the social recognition of the profession. With the intention of filling in the gap, this study brings together 49 expert educators and practitioners in social work from the comprehensive family service in Guangzhou. The Fuzzy Delphi method is applied to design the study, in which the participants are asked to select important indicators from the professional competence standard index used in UK, the USA and Hong Kong. A total of 29 indicators in three areas are identified by the experts as vital in social work professionalism. These three areas are value and ethnics, theoretical knowledge and practical skills. This newly identified set of indicators can have enormous implication in practice. For the first time, a professional competence standard can be used as guidelines for college social work curriculum development as well as professional education quality evaluation and management. It is also noted that the indicators selected by the participants show a tendency of pragmatism that is compliant, de-political and technocratic, likely an outcome from a mixture of the unique social work education and practice, local politics and other social and cultural conditions in China.