This project maps and compares how sociology as an institutionalised discipline of teaching and research has been introduced, developed and practiced in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. It sets out to interpret the observed trajectories in light of social-historical contexts. The three cases presented share some similarities in their colonial pasts, Chinese-populated demography, and development trajectories as "Asian tigers". However, they demonstrate a sharp contrast in post-war geopolitics, political context, and identity. Three levels of analytical categories are involved in the analysis: geopolitical, state-institutional, and (collective) practitioner-level. On the one hand, this project attempts to look beyond the national container to introduce various trans-border factors (e.g. scholarly migration, foreign funding and knowledge flow) into the analytical scope under the conceptual framework of a "world system of knowledge network." On the other hand, the explanation sought is to be grounded on a sympathetic understanding of the actors and their psychological perspective. The data analysed includes literature and archive material, bibliographic and demographic datasets, interviews with 56 sociologists stratified by bibliographical factors and a few informative talks, and some ethnographic observation in the field study. How sociology was introduced and institutionalized in three locations along the post-war geopolitical structure will be traced. The "domestic disciplinary identity" will be explored based on a systematic bibliographic review. A survey of the various modes of public engagement of sociologists is interpreted and the thesis relates some observed patterns to contextual factors. It further assesses the impact of recent higher education reform under managerialism and academic globalism on sociology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:560356 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Tzeng, Albert |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/49816/ |
Page generated in 0.0016 seconds