Contract Era - Research on the Modernization of Social Relationships in Chinese Society

Author: Li Liu Lan / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: What is the current era coordinate of the evolution of China's social structure? Starting with an analysis of rural reforms, the author observes that Chinese social relations are entering a contractual process. He extends the starting point of social progress in Henry Maine's 19th-century thesis "From Status to Contract" from "status" to "kinship," arguing that the status-based society is merely a transitional period where "kinship" and "contract" rise and fall.
Taking this as the overall perspective, the author employs insights from multiple disciplines—philosophy, economics, political science, law, history, ethics, anthropology, and sociology—to focus on the evolution of land relations, capital relations, political relations, and the transformation of ideological and cultural forms during China's modernization process. He also offers new interpretations on some controversial and multifaceted issues, such as ownership, property rights, the legal basis for state regulation of distribution, the labor theory of value, public corruption, party politics, the people-centered and democratic issues, the balance between rule by man, rule of virtue, and rule of law, the nature of human beings (good vs. evil), faith, and the future direction of human society.