Observation, Criticism, and Rationality: The Thoughts of an Individual Knowledge Worker in a Chaotic Era

Author: Yao Xinyong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: This is not a collection of sociocultural criticism, nor is it a conventional academic monograph. The texts included in this book are broadly divided into four parts: Part I, Politics, Society, and Culture; Part II, Modernity, Ethnicity, and the Nation; Part III, Literature; Part IV, Intellectuals. The content of Part I can be further divided into three sections: first, an analysis of the diverse relationships between ideological discourses in China during the transitional period; second, several critiques of social injustice; third, reflections on the "constitutionalist" aspirations of the 1990s. Part II includes both an examination and analysis of the discourse on modernity in the intellectual circles of the 1990s, as well as an investigation into the disciplinary transformations of "Chinese ethnic literature" and the debates among Chinese intellectuals about "Chinese identity" in the context of globalization. Together, these form multifaceted manifestations of the identity crisis of sociocultural self-identity in China during the transitional period. Part III is titled "Literature." As the name suggests, the focus of this part is more concentrated on the analysis of literary phenomena and literary works. Part IV is titled "Intellectuals." Although the vast majority of the content examined in this book is related to intellectuals, this part directs itself more directly to the intellectuals of transitional China.