President of American Sociological Association Gave a Lecture at Luojia Forum
Published:06-24-2011Author:Views:1010
On the evening of June 17, Michael Burawoy, professor of sociology of UC Berkeley and president of the International Sociological Association gave a lecture on Global Sociology. WHU Vice-President Xie Hongxing attended the lecture and awarded Prof. Burawoy a commemorative certificate.
Prof. Burawoy first introduced his experience of conducting worker participatory research in witty language. He said, from 1970s to 1990s when the overwhelming tidal wave of marketization swept the world, people took it for granted that market is everything. However, sociologists and economists maintained that the market cannot go on the sound track of progress without the country and the government. From the comparison between the economic development of China and the former Soviet Union, China’s market wants a supervising and guiding force apart from the force of market and government. Therefore, Prof. Burawoy put forward the concept of “Civil Society”. “Civil Society” is a social organism that exists outside the market and country. It maintains the social stability. Prof. Burawoy emphasized the importance of “Civil Society” in sociological research.
The tidal wave of marketization has incurred land privatization, decline of social welfare, reduction in migrant workers’ wage and commercialization of financial market. Facing all these problems, Prof. Burawoy poses the question of how to unite to resist the full marketization. He stressed that this action requires the joint cooperation between countries.
In 1968, Prof. Burawoy received his B.A. degree in Mathematics from University of Cambridge. In 1972, he was awarded M.A. degree in Sociology from University of Zambia. In 1976, he obtained his Ph.D. degree in Sociology from University of Chicago. He served as President of the American Sociological Association. He was Invited Professor of Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. He is now Vice-President for National Associations of International Sociological Association and a professor of sociology of UC Berkeley. He received the Distinguished Teaching Award of UC Berkeley and his research was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation Grant, Social Science Research Council Fellowships, and MacArthur Foundation Grant.
