Social Institutions Of Contemporary China

AY2016/2017 Semester 1

How does contemporary Chinese society (both rural and urban) organize itself socially? The burgeoning literature on contemporary China emphasizes economic and political rationalities. Yet Chinese society is a classic exemplar of how individuals are socially embedded in it. This course explores this powerful dimension of social organization in the everyday lives of the Chinese. By examining social institutions such as the family, work and grassroots organizations, neighbourhoods, social welfare, religion and ideology, we seek to better understand how Chinese lives are socially controlled and how their behaviour and beliefs can be understood by these social constraints. At the same time, by looking at how these social institutions restructure themselves as China moves from socialism to capitalism, we will see how the Chinese, as active agents, rewrite the social rules and reinvent new norms and institutions. Depending on the composition of the class, there may be an optional discussion session on one of the course topics in standard Mandarin.