Social transformations of Chinese society in the focus of modern sociological science

Abstract

The chapter analyzes the social conditions for the emergence, formation, and development of sociology in China. Among the main factors contributing to the development of sociology in China were the translation activities of Chinese scientists, activities of foreign missions in China, the new opportunities for exchange and training of Chinese students in foreign universities, the experience of conducting applied research carried out by American sociologists in China and so forth. The Chinese sociological society appeared in the early 1930s. Their activity included publishing sociological journals and conducting applied sociological research. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the development process of Chinese sociology during the period of the Cultural Revolution, accompanied by a series of ups and downs, due to the complete ban of sociology as a science in China until the end of the 1970s, when its revival began. Nowadays Chinese sociology is a fully institutionalized science, there are a number of Chinese Universities and departments where the sociological disciplines are taught, also there are several institutions and think tanks. Chinese sociologies paid great attention to the following topics: problems of employment in small towns, family and marriage relations, social transformation and modernization of society, problems of arranging social life in rural areas, and others.