The Study of China in Universities: A Comparative Case Study of Australia and the United Kingdom
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The Study of China in Universities: A Comparative Case Study of A ...

Chapter 2:  Background
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This is evidenced in Kusch’s (2000) introduction to an edited book, The Sociology of Philosophical Knowledge, in which he stated, “This volume brings together a number of authors that see themselves as contributors to, or critical commentators on, a new field that has recently emerged within the sociology of knowledge” (p. ix). Kusch’s statement exemplifies the very cycle that Abbott described as the “fractionation” process, which had also been observed by Mannheim in the 1920s. Kusch further stated,

Studying philosophers and their knowledge from broadly sociological or political perspective is not, of course, a recent phenomenon. Marxist writers have used such perspectives throughout the twentieth century, and, since the sixties, feminist authors have also occasionally engaged in sociological analysis of philosophers’ texts. What distinguishes SPK from these sociologies is that SPK is not engaged in a political struggle; indeed, SPK remains, in general, neutral with respect to the truth or falsity of the doctrines it studies. In doing so, SPK follows the “strong programme” in the sociology of scientific knowledge. (p. ix)

Kusch claimed that the new field of SPK intended to “remain neutral” with respect to the truth-or-falsity struggle. This implies that his proposition is that the tradition of the sociology of scientific knowledge should be impartial and nonpolitical. This also suggests that the impartial approach makes SPK different from the status quo, hence, justifying the existence of the new field. As in the discipline of sociology, the sociology of knowledge is in a constant evolutionary state of branching and merging. This phenomenon reflects Mannheim’s observation that “nothing remains identical to itself, eternally fixed and that everything is subject to constant change” (Kettler et al., 1982, p. 46). The views of the nonstatic nature of culture, knowledge, and values support my postulation that the notion of Chinese studies is elusive and changes in time, as do sociology and the sociology of knowledge.

Mannheim also pointed out that there are movements of the shift in value emphasis to the culture itself. This means that such value shifts constitute one of the underlying forces of change in art, religion, and the sciences.