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The Rise Of China And The Concept Of Civilization: Constructing Conceptual Apparatus For Cross-Civilizational Comparisons, Liah Greenfeld

Comparative Civilizations Review

The paper argues that the rise of China to a position of prominence in the contemporary world offers Western scholars a greatly expanded comparative perspective and, thus, an opportunity to re-assess their fundamental view of social reality. This comparative perspective draws attention to supra-national cultural unities, “civilizations,” first suggested by both Durkheim and Weber.

There are deficiencies in the current understanding of “civilization” in the social science literature, among others exemplified by “civilizational analysis,” and so this paper proposes a new concept which adds to the conceptual apparatus of sociological theory a new — fully independent of others — variant …

Apotheosis Of The State And The Decline Of Civilization: A Systems Approach, Robert Bedeski

Comparative Civilizations Review

Humanity is undergoing a second Axial Age. The first, as described by Karl Jaspers, brought transcendence into the vision and self-understanding of humans and the world. The rise of secularism and “Death of God” is dissolving and fragmenting that transcendence — a vital subsystem of the civilization system. Economy, knowledge and government comprise three additional subsystems and have coalesced to form the modern sovereign state, diminishing the traditional place of religion, art and philosophy in civilizations. An example of a state lacking common institutions of transcendence was the Mongol empire. Ruling Russia for a quarter millennium, its state form was …

The Economic Regions Of Chinese Civilization: A Gis-Based Analysis Of Grain Markets In China, 1736-1842, Karl Ryavec, Mark Henderson, Rocco Bowman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Philip Ball. The Water Kingdom: A Secret History Of China, Robert Bedeski

Comparative Civilizations Review

Over centuries scores of sinologists have sought to define the essence of China. Philip Ball addresses and goes well beyond the materialist paradigm of Karl Wittfogel’s hydraulic thesis, which described the role of water management in China as stimulating state development. In his theory, government emerged as the central institution to manage transportation, flood control and irrigation. Ball also sees water management as critical in Chinese civilization and injects his description with spiritual and moral content, drawing on poetry, art, biography and extensive reference to historical events. His book is an exploration of the role of water in China’s culture, …

The Future Of Civilization: A Systems Approach, Robert Bedeski, Ph.D.

Comparative Civilizations Review

Civilization is one of several stages of human evolution and forms a system of interaction. Its past dominance is now challenged by growth of three subsystems — state, economy, and science/technology. These three subsystems have matured through application of rational knowledge. The vertically integrated state now dominates society and demarcated territory. The horizontally integrated global economy and global science/technology society have become worldwide in scope. State domination is reinforced by autonomous global science and international capital. The remaining subsystem of Moral Knowledge occupies present non-material civilization and is characterized by organic knowledge and embracing the unprovable, which includes religion, art, …

The Comparative Study Of Civilizations And Its Relation To China, David Wilkinson

Comparative Civilizations Review

Chinese scholars have recently expressed much interest in the comparative study of civilizations, lately carried on mostly in the West, but long open to, and increasingly of interest to, diverse perspectives. This essay is intended to suggest a road toward the development of comparative-civilizational studies centered on some questions of both historical and contemporary significance, with particular attention to one question concerning which the initial presuppositions of Western and Chinese scholars, in particular, may be at variance, but where there may be room for the development of agreed empirical-theoretical conclusions.

The Intrigue Of Paradigmatic Similarity: Leibniz And China, Yu Liu

Comparative Civilizations Review

The cosmology of China is indeed strikingly similar to the metaphysics of Leibniz, but precisely where the two resemble each other, the former is unmistakably different from Christianity. Scholars of Leibniz have so far generally taken it for granted that he was ideologically aligned with Christianity, but his paradigmatic similarity to China should alert us of a surprisingly different story. Leibniz was indisputably “the greatest of the seventeenth century sinophiles” and key Chinese cosmological ideas were introduced to Europe long before he formulated his worldview. Together, these two facts can help us decide whether he “owes to Chinese organic naturalism …

The Development Of Christianity In Contemporary China, Chu Yi Lu

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to study the development of Christianity in contemporary China. It adds to the limited literature that explores how Christianity has developed as the fastest growing religion in China post the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The data derive from semi-structured and focus group interviews with Chinese Christians and field observation notes collected at both official and non-official Christian churches in Beijing. I found an ambivalent attitude toward the development of Christianity across different social levels in China. At the state level, the Chinese government expects Christianity to provide a much-needed stabilizing influence in an increasingly self-centered …

Marital Satisfaction And Depressive Symptoms In China, Richard B. Miller, Tiffany M. Mason, Jerevie M. Canlas, Dahua Wang, David A. Nelson, Craig H. Hart

Faculty Publications

Although there is substantial evidence that low marital satisfaction is a significant risk factor for depression, little research has examined this relationship in cultures outside of the U.S. and Europe. The validity of the marital discord model of depression in Chinese culture was tested by studying 391 couples living in Beijing and Hangzhou, China. Results of structural equation modeling using an actor–partner interdependence model strategy indicated that husbands’ and wives’ marital satisfaction was significantly predictive of their own depressive symptoms. In addition, wives’ marital satisfaction significantly predicted husbands’ depressive symptoms. These results provide evidence that the marital discord model of …

Division Of Labor And Marital Satisfaction In China And Taiwan, Bryan C. Kubricht

Theses and Dissertations

There is evidence that household division of labor is associated with marital satisfaction among Chinese populations. However, little research has compared different Chinese societies, as well as non-rural and rural regions. This study compared the division of household labor, and its association with marital satisfaction, between China and Taiwan, between non-rural and rural regions, and between males and females using data from a large, multinational study of countries in East Asia. The moderating effect of gender role ideology was examined as a potential moderating variable, as well. Overall, division of household labor was significantly associated with marital satisfaction. However, gender …

Ida Pfeiffer In China: Examining The Suppression Of Gender Roles In The Face Of European Colonial Superiority, Alec Down

Library Research Grants

No abstract provided.

Division Of Labor And Marital Quality In China, Lexie Y. Pfeifer

Theses and Dissertations

Research done in the United States has linked household division of labor to marital quality. Research shows that satisfaction with division of labor is associated with greater marital happiness. There is minimal research in other countries on the relationship between division of labor and marital quality. China, with a history of gender inequality and emerging women's rights, makes an ideal setting for examining the relationship between division of labor and marital quality. In addition to measuring the influence of division of labor and satisfaction with division of labor on marital satisfaction, this study includes a scale on childcare related tasks. …