Understanding Today’s China

Comparing U.S. and Other Societies with China

SOC 723 Seminar on Modern Chinese Society

Education and Inequality, Medical System and Health, Legal System and Professions,

Market/Organization Change, Social Movements, Media, Culture, Global/Transnational

2018 Fall, Thursdays 3-5:30pm, GAR 112

Instructor: Prof. Le Lin

For inquiries and syllabi, please email: lelin@hawaii.edu

Course Description

This is a graduate seminar on modern Chinese society, with a focus on contemporary issues in post-Mao China. The basic premise of this course is that some of the most pressing social issues China currently faces—anxiety in education and social inequality, failed medical reform and worsened doctor-patient relations, under-professionalized legal professions, under-institutionalized economic and political transition etc. —can be understood in the general framework of state-society relationship. This is both a sociological and an interdisciplinary course. Students in other disciplines are welcome. No prior sociological background or knowledge on China is needed. Any research projects that involve China, including a project comparing China with the U.S. and other societies, are acceptable.