Class Structure and the Third Way (Recorded Dialogue with a British Scholar)

Author: He Bingmeng, Jiang Hui
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-10-01
Features: Class is not only a political phenomenon; it is now more a cultural phenomenon and a meaning, a broader sociological category. The social structure of the UK is like a diamond, with the majority of the population constituting this structure, and "The Third Way" represents their interests. — Professor Mick Cox of the London School of Economics and Political Science
It is important to distinguish between two types of liberalism: one derived from Smith's "neoliberalism," and the other derived from Mill's "new liberalism." I believe "The Third Way" shares significant similarities with the latter, though the latter is closer to socialism than New Labour. — Professor Christopher Pierson of the University of Nottingham
Institutions and fields such as education, culture, art, publishing, journalism, and others, in my opinion, are very important in ensuring that they are not dominated by direct market forces. The most important issue now is to find a way to prevent productive enterprises and companies in the market economy from being overly directly controlled by financial markets and capital owners. — Professor Russel Keat of the University of Edinburgh
This book, presented to the readers, is a record of dialogues between the author and British scholars during the author's academic visit to the UK. From October 12 to 26, 2004, the author conducted a two-week academic visit to the UK. With the coordination and assistance of the UK Academy of Sciences, the author visited six renowned universities in the UK: the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Kent, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Nottingham, and the Queen's University of Belfast, engaging in in-depth exchanges with over ten distinguished British scholars. The author also visited the Marx Memorial Library in London and witnessed the Third European Social Forum held in the city. Although the two weeks were brief, we felt that the academic information and inspiration gained exceeded expectations. To more comprehensively preserve the results of this academic visit, we carefully edited this collection and hope it can also provide some reference for domestic researchers.
The book primarily consists of six dialogue transcripts, which were compiled based on the recordings of the conversations. For clarity of content, we added titles to each transcript according to the themes of the discussions. Within each transcript, we also rearranged the order to group content related to the same issues. Although the six transcripts account for one-third of the book in terms of word count, they are the central focus of the entire book. At the end of each transcript, we included translations of the scholars' relevant works provided either in person or later via email, which help us gain a deeper and broader understanding of the discussed issues and the academic backgrounds of the scholars.
The book also includes dialogues from our visit to the Marx Memorial Library in London, along with some materials and articles provided by the library, as well as information and data from our observations of the Third European Social Forum in London. Finally, for the convenience of research, the book also includes introductory materials on the historical development of the UK Labour Party, Conservative Party, and Liberal Democratic Party.