The Exemplary Society: Human Improvement, Social Control, and the Dangers of Modernity in China

by Bïrge Bakken

Overview

This pathbreaking study analyzes traditional and modern Chinese beliefs about and reactions to education, discipline, human improvement, and social control. Although these reactions to modernity have a Chinese coloring, they are not exclusive to the Chinese culture. By describing the terra incognita of China, The Exemplary Society also describes something about ourselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198295235
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/11/2000
Series:	Studies on Contemporary China
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	532
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Børge Bakken is Senior Researcher at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) in Copenhagen. He has previously been Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oslo and Research Fellow in the Norwegian Research Council.

Table of Contents

Part I: Memories and Dreams of Social Order1. Memories: Construction and Structures of Tradition2. Dreams: Technocracy, Social Engineering, and ‘Human Quality'Part II: Education, Society, and Morality3. Socialization, Moral Education, and ‘Moral Science'4. The Educational Method: A Sociological Interpretation5. On Models and ModellingPart III: Norms, Disciplines, and the Exemplary Order6. Discipline and the Exemplary Norm7. The Disciplinary Techniques of Evaluation8. ‘Human Quality' Frozen into FilesPart IV: Modernity, Deviance, and Danger9. Manifestations of Deviance and Modern Dander10. ‘Never for the First Time': ‘Premature Love' and Social Control11. Crime, Juvenile Delinquency, and Deterrence PolicyPart V: Theatre and Simulation12. The Ways of Lying: Concluding Remarks on the Erosion of Control

Editorial Reviews

"The book is an extremely well researched, adeptly written volume whose sections would be appropriate for a comparative course on socialization, moral education, sociology of education, or education of China."—Comparative Education Review

From the Publisher