In Search of a Social Science Anchored in (Chinese) Realities

Author:

Huang Philip C. C.12

Affiliation:

1. Law School, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

2. Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Abstract

This article reviews the author’s own research over the years from the question of how to relate Western theory and China research. The author has found through empirical research that Chinese realities generally run counter to Western theoretical expectations. And, further, that Western theories tend to overlook one side or another of dualities that coexist and interact in the real world—for example, the simultaneous resort to high moral values and practical actions in the Chinese justice system. Those findings have led the author to question the very nature and structure of the major Western social science theories, which exhibit a strong tendency to emphasize one or another side of binary oppositions, not just with regard to such binaries as subjectivism versus objectivism or voluntarism versus structuralism, but even with regard to theory versus experience, and the West versus the non-West. In the real world, however, the two sides coexist and interact within a single whole. Western theories have also shown a strong tendency to reject moral values as somehow irrational and un-modern, while the Confucian “golden rule” of “what you would not have others do unto you, do not unto others” has persisted through the ages down to the present. It still serves as a viable guide to practice. What we need is a method of research that would enable us to grasp accurately Chinese realities and to develop theoretical concepts that would be anchored on those realities.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Sociology and Political Science,History,Geography, Planning and Development

Reference43 articles.

1. Huang Philip C. C. (1985) The Peasant Economy and Social Change in North China. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.

2. Huang Philip C. C. (1990) The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350–1988. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.

3. Huang Philip C. C. (1996) Civil Justice in China: Representation and Practice in the Qing. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.

4. Huang Philip C. C. (2001) Code, Custom, and Legal Practice in China: The Qing and the Republic Compared. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.

5. Huang Philip C. C. (2010) Chinese Civil Justice, Past and Present. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Cited by 4 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3