Confucian social theory: Power, social mobility and change

Confucianism can be thought of as a Chinese model of rational thought with implications for socio-economic and political stability, and for development. This project draws upon Chinese intellectual history to explore Confucianism in relation to power, social mobility, and social change. This work aims for an in-depth exploration of the evolution of another reality, or Weltanschauung , in the context of the Chinese ideological superstructure; its longitudinal role in development; and its implications for China's transition to modernity. The scope of this work places a Chinese conceptual framework within the field of Western macrosociology. This study explains how this comprehensive social construct influences a pattern of large scale change. As Cold War assumptions dissipate, China is opening up to the rest of the world. At this critical time of reform, Western scholars and policy analysts face the challenge of understanding Chinese social, political, and economic decisions. In particular, Western scholarship is interested in China's resistance to "wholesale" Westernization. The goal of this project is to broaden Western understanding of a Chinese worldview by identifying and explicating two theoretical models: a conceptual framework of the Confucian ideological superstructure; and a longitudinal model of change. Western scholarship suggests that links can be made between current social and political structures and tendencies in the West, and the classical literary heritage of Western civilization. Similarly, the same argument can be offered in the East, with respect to classical Chinese literature and China's present development model. The ensuing body of research draws upon advances by Western sinologists and philologists, and upon the application of hermeneutics and textual analysis. This project explores seminal ideas of Chinese intellectuals---both of the Axial Age and within what this dissertation calls the process of "syncretic conditioning." This study suggests that core ideas are critical in understanding current social, political, and economic issues. While China's intellectual schools are vast, this study focuses on the Confucian school for two reasons: (1) its leading role in China's political and social history, and (2) its prominent place in Weberian social science literature, and more specifically, Max Weber's position regarding the relationship between Confucianism and economic underdevelopment in China. The present project rejects the dominant research trend in Western social science that measures China's incorporation into a Western model. Instead, it offers a research paradigm that explores how China continues to incorporate new ideas into a regionally pervasive and enduring Chinese worldview.