Critical Review

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Choose one or two reading from the reading list, read them carefully and write a critical review based on the readings. The course I take is about Late Industrialization and Social Change(not essay topic). 6 – 8 pages, double spaced, 1 inch margins. I will upload a good sample review later. (Read the sample plz)

  • Tease out what question you have after reading.
  • First you have to understand what the author(s) tries to say, and think about it to see if you agree with the author(s).Try to think why you disagree in case you do not agree, and in case you agree is what the author says enough? What can you add your own thoughts and ideas to those of the author? Is there enough evidence to support the arguments? Is there logical consistency in the arguments?
  • All in all, I am looking for how much thinking you put into critical review, not a summary of the readings.
  • The paper should be organized with a clear and strong thesis/argument(with a question). Be sure to focus on Critical Thinking about the author and its work in your review.
  • Be original, and remember to cite.

Reading List：

China

*Andrew G. Walder, Communist Neo-Traditionalism：Work and Authority in Chinese Industry(Berkeley：University of California Press, 1986), Ch. 4 & 5. (Recommended reading)

*Jean C. Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China: The Political Economy of Village Government(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), Chapters, 1, 6, 7, 10.

*Vivien Shue, The Reach of the State: Sketches of the Chinese Body Politic (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988), Ch. 2 & 3.

*Yusheng Peng, “Kinship Networks and Entrepreneurs in China’s Transitional Economy,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 109, No. 5 (March 2004), pp. 1045-1074.

*Sun Liping, “Societal Transition: New Issues in the Field of the Sociology of Development,” Modern China, Vol. 34, No. 1, The Nature of the Chinese State: Dialogues among Western and Chinese Scholars, I (Jan., 2008), pp. 88-113.